Having fought through one of the longest civil wars on record, South Sudan’s early history was defined by conflict. But now the youngest nation in the world is forging a new identity through basketball.
Their success has seen the men’s national side, the Bright Stars, book a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics and also come within seconds of a historic win over the United States at the weekend.
Former National Basketball Association (NBA) star Luol Deng has been a major inspiration behind their rise.
“Since I was born, I have known nothing but conversations about war,” Deng, who spent 15 years in the NBA, told BBC Sport Africa.
“Whenever I was in school, even when I was in the NBA, it was always ‘refugees left because of war’ and ‘war-torn country’. Now we are finding a new story.”
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