South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"

By Awan Achiek
MPs in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) on Monday praised the performance of the national basketball team at the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The Bright Stars were eliminated in the group stage after losing 96-85 to Serbia on Saturday, a game which ended an exciting run for the lone African team in the men’s basketball games.
Hon. Nathaniel Oyet Perino, First Deputy Speaker commended the basketball team for the historic performance at the first ever Olympic Games for the country.
“I would like also to take this opportunity to applaud our basketball team who went for Olympics and did wonders,” Oyet said during plenary sitting in Juba.
Oyet said the Bright Stars impressed despite being beaten by teams with heavily fancied opponents such as the United States and Serbia.
“The teams that our basketball team played against have a legacy in basketball championships. The USA, Serbia, even Puerto Rico that we have beaten the other day,” he said.
Oyet said the country was very proud to see the national flag being raised by people who are non-South Sudanese in the Olympics.
“So it was not an easy task for beginners to play with people who played for decades in this arena. So we are very proud also that our flag was being raised by people who are non-South Sudanese,” Oyet said.
“The European, the Latin American, even Americans, some of them also raised our flag. So this shows the power of sport in enhancing our international reputation,” he added.
South Sudan qualified for the Olympics by virtue of its performance at the World Cup last year, finishing as the best African team.
The national federation is led by former NBA player Luol Deng.
South Sudan played for the first time in the Olympic Games since wining independence from Sudan in 2011.