The South Sudan Basketball Federation has condemned racism and harassment towards bright star player Nuni Omot over the injury of Serbian player Borisa Semantic during the FIBA World Cup.
The FIBA Basketball reported that Borisa Simanic, who played for the Serbian national team, was declared out from the 2023 FIBA World Cup on a Thursday due to complications from a blow received during one of the games.
According to the report, Simanic received a blow to the kidney area with just under two minutes remaining and could not continue the match.
After leaving the game, Simanic was sent to a hospital in Manila, where he underwent surgery during the night.
Reacting to the incident, SSBF said it was informed of the player’s injury and subsequent kidney removal as a result of the accident.
The SSBF said ” Officials reviewed the incident immediately after it occurred and no foul was found by Omot. At the time, neither the federation nor the player was made aware of the severity of Simanic’s injury” in what it described as “unintentional and unfortunate”
“The Federation would like to further address the racism and harassment endured by player Nuni Omot after news broke of this regrettable development:
It further ” Condemn any sort of racism directed towards the player” adding that Basketball is a sport that is recognized to bring people together rather than to be used as a tool of prejudice”