Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, on Monday officially wrote the South Sudan Minister of Youth and Sports Dr. Joseph Geng Akech apologizing for playing the Sudanese national anthem when the South Sudan Basketball team was set to play.
He said that on 28 July during the basketball session between Puerto Rico and South Sudan at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium, at the team entry sequence, the anthem of Sudan was mistakenly played instead of the anthem of South Sudan, due to an error from the Paris 2024 Team.
“After realizing the mistake, the Paris 2024 Team played the South Sudan anthem. We would like to present our sincere apologies to the entire South Sudan delegation and the entire South Sudanese people, and especially to the basketball team, for the terrible inconvenience,” Estanguet wrote. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee is dedicated to do its utmost efforts and provide the most careful attention, so that this error does not occur again in the future.”
He added: “Please rest assured that we are fully committed to accompanying South Sudan in the best possible conditions.”
The Bright Stars, South Sudan’s National Basketball Team, went ahead to trounce Puerto Rico 90-79 in their first basketball at the Paris Olympics.
South Sudan will face the USA in Group C of the 2024 Olympics on Wednesday 31 July in what is expected to be a tight thriller.
