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The Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee has officially issued a written apology to South Sudan’s government over the wrong playing of the country’s national anthem on Sunday.
The Monday’s letter addressed to Youth and Sport Minister Dr Joseph Geng Akech, the committee “presented a sincere apology to the entire South Sudanese delegation and the entire South Sudanese People especially the basketball team for the terrible inconvenience.”
Before the match against Puerto Rico, the Sudan national anthem was played instead of South Sudan twenty seconds after it started, leaving the team’s players stunned.
The Olympic organizing committee made an error by playing the Sudanese national anthem instead of the South Sudan national anthem.
Despite this mishap, South Sudan achieved a historic victory in its first basketball game at the Olympics, defeating Puerto Rico, ranked 17th in the world, with a score of 90-79 after trailing by 9 points in the first quarter.
On Monday, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs informed the national lawmakers that they had received a verbal apology from the Olympic committee regarding the mistaken use of the wrong national anthem.
This follows a member of parliament blaming the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the wrong national anthem being played during the basketball game between South Sudan and Puerto Rico on Sunday.
Hon. Farouq Gatkouth stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has failed to properly inform the world about the country and its national anthem.
Responding to the MP’s question, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Monday Kumba told lawmakers that the incident was unexpected and disappointing.
He explained that the ministry was investigating the cause of this mistake.
The Pans 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee said it “is dedicated to do its utmost efforts and provide the most careful attention, so that this error does not occur again in the future.
It assured the body’s management of full commitment to accompany South Sudan in the best possible conditions.
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