Sporting dreams for world’s newest nation

The football pitch is rocky, the national goalkeeper keeps busy shooing hungry goats away from the net, and the basketball team trains on a simple court behind a girls' primary school.While south Sudan does not yet have a sporting record, its national teams carry the hopes and dreams of the world's newest nation to be."To see the national anthem and the flag raised over the stadium, that will be a historic moment," said Rudolf Andrea, secretary of the South Sudan Football Association (SSFA).The country is due to proclaim formal independence on July 9 and its first international sporting matches are scheduled for the next day, when it takes on neighbouring Kenya at football while the basketball team plays Uganda."This is something that we have been waiting for a very long time, to show the world we are truly a new nation," Andrea said, watching the football squad train in public for the first time.South Sudan was left in ruins by decades of war with the north, a conflict that claimed more than two million lives and prompted almost 99 percent to vote in a January referendum to break away and forge their own nation.Today, training facilities are lacking -- both the football and basketball stadiums are being repaired for the first international games.And while the fledgling teams -- including women's sports, notably netball and athletics -- may still have much to learn, they make up for this with enthusiasm.At their first public practice, on the university's pitch, the football team wore their red shirts emblazoned with "South Sudan" with enormous pride, as cheering fans shout encouragement."This means everything to us -- this is something I could hardly have imagined, to have our own team," said student Gatbel Chigash. "Can you imagine when we play north Sudan at sport? That will be a game we would like to see.""We are not worried at the present time about the exact result in our first games, but I know that South Sudan has a good future in football," said SSFA's Andrea. He vowed that "after two or three years, south Sudan will be at the African Cup of Nations."The same mood holds at basketball training, where towering men leap high into the air practising shots."My grandfather, my father and all his brothers died in the war," said national squad member Agel Ring Machar, spinning a ball on his finger. "So representing my country here on the court is an unbelievable feeling."The basketball team is proudly aware that south Sudan has already produced international stars."Our people have played for the biggest teams in the world," said coach Deng Lek. "But our people have never been able to play for their own country so far, so that is why having our own teams is so important."Perhaps most famous was the late basketball legend, Manute Bol, the tallest player in National Basketball Association (NBA) history, along with Romanian Gheorghe Muresan.South Sudan was left in ruins by decades of war with the north, a conflict that claimed more than two million lives and prompted almost 99 percent to vote in a January referendum to break away and forge their own nation.The iconic shot-blocker stood at a giant seven feet seven inches (231 centimetres), and was talent-spotted from obscurity to play in the NBA with Washington, Golden State, Philadelphia and Miami.Today’s stars include Luol Deng, who fled the war in the south as a child and grew up in Britain. He plays for the Chicago Bulls team, and was named by US President Barack Obama as his favourite athlete."These are people who give us inspiration," said Lek.Sights are not set on regional competition alone. South Sudan is already working to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, Lek said.Britain is supporting efforts, including applications for membership of the international sporting federations needed for Olympic qualification rules."We would love to see a south Sudan team at the Olympic Games in London, and we are working hard to achieve that," said Alastair McPhail, the British Consul General in Juba, in a recent speech.South Sudan is due to proclaim formal independence on July 9 and its first international sporting matches are scheduled for the next day, when it takes on neighbouring Kenya at football while the basketball team plays Uganda.The nation's leaders hope national sports will help bind the south together. With more than 60 different ethnic groups, divisions run deep following decades of war with the north, which exploited ethnic rivalries by backing splinter militia groups and making automatic weapons readily available."We hope to use sport as a means to end conflict," said sports minister Makuac Teny. "It can help to get the young people to compete in matches instead of fighting, and so to neutralise enmity between tribes."Tensions continue, and violence, both rebel battles and cattle raids, have left more than 1,800 people dead this year and forced thousands others to flee their homes after brutal massacres and revenge attacks.Formal independence will not solve those divides overnight, but sport "will help bring the people together," said Kayanga John, the sports reporter for the Juba Post newspaper."When you see our people from all across the south playing together, this will build the idea of a nation."