South Sudan’s basketball team have become the first African side to win their opening match against a non-African team after beating Puerto Rico 90- 79.
Puerto Rico, a major basketball team of international repute were natural favourites to beat the East Africans who were making their very first apperance at the Olympic games.
It comes a week after the South Sudanese came within a whisker of beating basketball powerhouses the United States in a friendly.
The Americans eventually edged the contest by a solitary point (101-100) after being pushed all the way by South Sudan whose players appear in the NBA.
South Audan’s opening win at the Olympics is being praised as a historic achievement marking the end of a long drought for African nations in men’s basketball.
The last time an African team won a basketball game in the Olympics was in 1996.
WN/as/APA