28 July 2024 , 20:06
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Paris organisers have been forced to make another apology after partly ruining South Sudan’s Olympic debut in men’s basketball.
South Sudan made a winning start to their historic Group C campaign, beating Puerto Rico 90-79 at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille.
The victory came after the wrong national anthem was played for the African nation, a mistake that was branded ‘disrespectful’ by one South Sudan player.
The incorrect anthem was played for around 20 seconds, leaving the Sudanese players confused and prompting fans to boo and demand the track to be discontinued.
According to Fox News, one supporter even had to be physically restrained by fellow fans after the Sudan anthem was incorrectly played.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 following a referendum and has its own distinct anthem. The neighbours have a long history of conflict.
Fans then began to clap the South Sudan players as they stood with their hands over their hearts waiting for the issue to be fixed. The Puerto Rican players followed suit in solidarity.
???????? A new embarrassment at the Olympics!
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) July 28, 2024
Instead of the South Sudan’s anthem, the Sudanese anthem was played! The the audience instantly noticed it.
Reminder, at the opening ceremony of the Games, we recall, South Korean athletes were announced as the DPRK team. pic.twitter.com/QzEbawdkwM
The correct anthem was played around three minutes later and South Sudan star Nuni Omot admitted the team felt ‘disrespected’ by the mistake.
‘It gave us fuel to the fire,’ said Omot, who finished with 12 points. ‘Obviously, we felt disrespected when that happened.
‘We’ve got to still earn our respect. So, I feel like for us we’ve got to continue to show the world what we’re capable of. That was just a testament, people not respecting us still.’
South Sudan’s Olympic team during the national anthems (Picture: Getty)
South Sudan coach Royal Ivey added: ‘It’s the pride for their country. ‘South Sudan. ‘Sud’ means ‘the land of the Black.’
‘These guys wanted to play. Wanted to hear their anthem. They messed up on the anthem, but they got it correct.
‘We all make mistakes. I’m definitely going to put that in comments. But at the end of the day, these guys are brothers.’
South Sudan beat Puerto Rico in their opening group game (Picture: Getty)
The International Olympics Committee apologised to South Sudan’s Olympic team just 24 hours after being forced to say sorry for mistakenly introducing the South Korean team as North Korea during the opening ceremony in Paris.