South Sudan’s Olympic basketball debut began with a bizarre anthem gaffe, but ended with the men’s team pulling off a surprise win over Puerto Rico.
Before the start of Sunday’s match against Puerto Rico, the African nation’s national anthem was abruptly cut off 20 seconds into the recorded track. Several online posts claim it was Sudan’s anthem, and not South Sudan’s, that was playing over the stadium’s loudspeakers. South Sudan qualified for the Paris Games for the first time last year after emerging from civil war with Sudan to become an independent nation in 2011.
The Sudanese players and their supporters were left bewildered, prompting fans from both teams at Lille’s Pierre Mauroy stadium to boo them. They then began to applaud while Sudan’s players stood in unison with their hands over their hearts waiting for the matter to be resolved.
The Puerto Rican players did the same in solidarity.
The audio track resumed about three minutes later, to cheers from the fans. When it ended, the South Sudanese players hugged each other and quickly pulled off the first big surprise of the current Olympics.
South Sudan’s Olympic basketball debut began Sunday with a bizarre anthem gaffe
South Sudan fans react after wrong national anthem was played before Sunday’s match
Several online posts claim that it was the anthem of Sudan, not South Sudan.
Carlik Jones scored 19 points and South Sudan rallied in the second half to beat Puerto Rico 90-79 in the opening game of the Paris Olympics for both teams on Sunday.
It was the first Olympic basketball win for South Sudan, which is participating in its first Olympics after qualifying as Africa’s top seed at last year’s World Cup. Marial Shayok added 15 points for South Sudan, which will face the United States on Tuesday.
Puerto Rico led for the first half of the Group C game, but that lead was cut short late in the second quarter when leading scorer Jose Alvarado left the game with an apparent ankle sprain. He returned early in the third quarter and finished with 26 points and five assists. Tremont Waters added 18 points.
But South Sudan took control in the final stretch, building a lead of up to 13 points with just over three minutes remaining.
Wenyen Gabriel #9 of South Sudan spikes the ball during the men’s group stage
South Sudanese fan confused during another national anthem
South Sudan, which nearly pulled off a surprise victory over the United States in an exhibition match before the start of the Olympics, showed the same combativeness Sunday against a Puerto Rican team it lost to in last year’s World Cup.
Alvarado was helped off the court by two trainers with 3.5 seconds left in the second quarter after he fell awkwardly following a basket by teammate Carlik Jones. Alvarado immediately grabbed his ankle.
When play was halted seconds later, he continued to write in pain before being treated and helped to the locker room. He was the most dominant player on the court for both teams in the first half, leading Puerto Rico with 19 points.
Alvarado left the locker room shortly after the start of the third quarter and then returned to the action with 7:52 remaining in the period.
But he couldn’t save his team.
Omot hit a 3-pointer from the wing as part of an 11-0 run to put his team ahead for the first time, 56-54.
The lead quickly grew to eight points. Puerto Rico, fueled by seven points from Alvarado in the fourth, cut the deficit to 71-69 as the quarter began.
But South Sudan outscored Puerto Rico 19-10 in the final 10 minutes.
Sunday’s victory marked only the second time an African team has won an Olympic men’s basketball match since 1996.