AfroBasket: Former NBAer Luol Deng ambitious for South Sudan, of which he became the president of the federation

Former NBA player, two-time All-Star, and British international -he participated in the London Olympics in 2012-, Luog Deng returned to his country of origin, South Sudan, and was elected president of the basketball federation in 2019.

“Our main objective as a federation is to build a solid foundation so that young people and everyone know that there is a platform for them to develop and thrive in life, as has been the case for me,” he told the FIBA ​​website. “Even though it will take a bit of time before everything materializes as we wish, I can say that South Sudan will soon be a great basketball nation. »

Luol Deng even paid for himself on the pitch since he was the selection coach during the AfroBasket qualifiers before handing over to Lloyd Gardner. He was inevitably delighted last night when he saw his national team obtain a historic qualification for the quarter-finals thanks to a hard-fought victory over Kenya, 60-58.

“We are able to compete with all our opponents and anything can happen,” he warned.

Luol Deng, who is also the cousin of Cholet’s Peter Jok, has pledged that the youth teams can participate in all continental competitions, and he expects more help from his government.

“I want to thank the government for giving us some support and I encourage them to get more involved and see sport as a way to build a nation and unify it around the youth”, underlines- he.

Quarter-finals

Ivory Coast-Guinea (Wednesday September 1)

Senegal-Angola (Wednesday September 1)

Cape Verde-Uganda (Thursday 2 September)

Tunisia-South Sudan (Thursday September 2)

Photo: FIBA