Luol Deng Wol urges gov’t to finance S. Sudan’s promising sports activities

JUBA – The head of South Sudan Basketball Federation and retired American NBA star, Luol Deng Wol, is appealing to South Sudan’s Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGONU) as well as well-wishers to finance what are now seen as promising sports activities in the world’s youngest county.

Wol made the appeal during a press conference he held in the capital Juba’s Pyramid Hotel on Monday.

“There is so much that we still need to do, but to be completely honest, the challenges are so big and as of right now, is almost like we want Luol to do this,” he said.

“Luol is going to do this, is not how it work, I think, there has to be challenges not just for us but also for the government and all these leaders like CEOs and people that in the country making money,” he added.

Luol who has been supporting the federation from his pocket is calling on well-wishers to join hands in supporting the federation to carry out its duties.

“It has to be said, is not about what the federation has done. The federation is doing their best, and we will leave without mistake. The question that has to be asked is who is helping the federation and how are they being helped to make changes,” he said.

He revealed that coaches are not even getting proper trainings and skills to be able to train the young stars.

“Now if we come in, and we show that we lack leadership or we can’t do it. I understand, we have been voted in, and we can always be voted out, but when you are voted in, it is not about one certain thing, people voted you in because they want change, and through our federation, change is not about basketball,” he said.

“It  is a change in life, we have coaches out there who can’t get proper support to work kids out and not even been paid and sometimes we go out training kids in the sun for hours,” he said.