China Newsweek wrote an article about the topic that many players from South Sudan, the direct competitor of China’s World Cup, were in doubt about the qualification of participating in the competition. Among them, basketball commentator Ji Hai was invited to introduce the relevant situation. The specific contents are as follows:

South Sudan in the eastern part of the African continent is the “youngest” country in the world. It was established independently and joined the United Nations in 2011. Recently, South Sudan basketball team has officially announced that it has joined four new players in the World Cup, namely: Shayok, masiang, Gabriel and Carrick Jones. The top three are NBA-level players, while Carrick Jones has long played in NBA subordinate leagues.

These players have obtained the qualification to represent South Sudan, making Chinese men’s basketball in the same group as South Sudan in a very unfavorable situation.

Luo Hai, an international basketball expert and a basketball commentator, told China Newsweek that the qualification of many new players in South Sudan was ambiguous.

Yan Hai said that Shayok had Canadian nationality and his father was from South Sudan. When the state of South Sudan was founded, Shayok was exactly 16 years old.

According to Article 22 of volume 3 of the 2021 edition of the management regulations of the International Basketball Federation, players participating in the official games of the International Basketball Federation must obtain passports representing the country before the age of 16, and a team can only have at most one naturalized player over the age of 16. If a player has represented a team to participate in the official game of the International Basketball Federation after he reaches the age of 17, even if he has completed the citizenship procedures, he is not qualified to participate in the competition.

“It is almost impossible for Shayok to obtain the passport of South Sudan before the age of 16, but now he can enter the team as a local player in South Sudan rather than a naturalized player.” Yan Hai said he didn’t understand.

“And masiang, who had previously played for the Australian national team. According to the provisions of the International Basketball Federation, theoretically he could not join other national teams, but this time he also joined the South Sudan. In addition, a player named Dai Qi, who was previously selected by South Sudan, also represented Australia.”

In the big list released by South Sudan, Sha York, masiang and Dai Qi are all regarded as domestic players, in addition, South Sudan also naturalized an authentic American “foreign aid” Carrick Jones. Jones played for the Fengcheng bulls in the NBA league and won the most valuable player in the league.

Jin Hai said that there were complicated historical reasons for South Sudan to form such a team.

In history, Sudan continued the war in the 1980 s to 1990 s, during which a large number of refugees fled their motherland to escape the war. Their migration destinations include Britain, Australia, Canada and other Commonwealth countries (Sudan is also a British colony in history). As a result, some descendants of Sudan refugees will emerge from time to time in various ball teams of these Commonwealth countries.

The current chairman of the South Sudan Basketball Association, Rolle Deng, was born in 1985. He played in NBA with Yao Ming at the same time and played for 10 years in Chicago Bulls.

Rolle Deng himself was an official family born in Sudan. His family fled to Egypt in the 90’s of last century to avoid the war, and later to England. When South Sudan was founded in 2011, Rolle Deng had acquired British nationality, and he also participated in the London Olympic Games in the 2012 s.

During his playing in NBA, Rolle Deng earned more than 0.16 billion dollars in total. He has never “forgotten”, used his career savings to build basketball venues for South Sudan, and hoped to help rebuild the new country in the form of building a basketball team.

Before he became the chairman of South Sudan Basketball Association, Rolle Deng served as the head coach of South Sudan. He has been running around, calling on young players from the descendants of Sudan refugees to return to new countries from all over the world and represent South Sudan in the competition, the goal is to make South Sudan appear in the World Cup, Olympic Games and other world stages.

“That Carrick Jones is the player that Rolle Deng used his contacts during his playing in the Chicago Bulls to negotiate ‘naturalization.” Yan Hai said, “the story of Rolle Deng helping South Sudan develop basketball is very touching, but because South Sudan and China have formed a direct competitive relationship men’s basketball, it must also be pointed out that there are violations in this series of operations, behind which the International Basketball Federation is engaging in double standards with privileges.”

Special topics for reporting the men’s basketball World Cup in 2023