South Sudan basketball player Nunu Omot. | FIBA.basketball

South Sudan’s basketball star Nuni Omot acknowledged the tedious World Cup task awaiting them but said his countrymen can keep shocking the world.

The Bright Stars are heading to the World Cup for the first time – having staged a top notch performance in the FIBA AfroBasket Qualifiers and World Cup Africa Qualifiers campaigns.

They have been drawn in Group B and will take on Puerto Rico, China and Serbia in the Philippines capital of Manila.

“We just got to come out and continue to shock the world the way we have been doing…I feel like if we just lock in, our coaches put us together, I feel like we can keep shocking the world,” Omot tells FIBA.basketball in Cairo Egypt.

“We are always the underdogs. We have been underdogs since Day 1. This means everything to each and every one of us. This means a lot because I am able to really step on a stage that I have never stepped on before.”

“There’s going to be a lot of good players, good teams, but to be able to showcase with my brothers, to show the talent that there is in Africa and South Sudan it means the world.”

32 teams are competing in this year’s Olympic tournament in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.

The games will begin on August 25 and ends on September 10 with the final taking place in Manila’s Mall of Asia Arena.