JUBA, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Lazaro Chier, a 30-year-old wheelchair basketball player, dropped out of secondary school in 2010 because he could no longer afford the tuition, just before South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
Despite the disappointment of failing to complete his senior four education, wheelchair basketball, supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has given Chier and many other people with disabilities a fresh start.
"I am very happy because this game has made me accept that indeed disability is not inability," Chier told Xinhua on Thursday at the conclusion of a wheelchair basketball competition in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
The tournament brought together 45 players from across South Sudan, including Juba, Wau, Rumbek and Yirol.
The participants included survivors of landmines, gunshot wounds and polio. Many are amputees, including several double amputees.
"We do not fight among ourselves because this game has made us one big family. There is no discrimination between girls and boys. We are all motivated to play the game," Chier said after his Juba-based Eagle team lost to Rumbek Warriors.
He attributed his team's performance to limited training before the tournament.
For 38-year-old Daniel Ezekiel, another wheelchair basketball player who dropped out of school because of a lack of tuition, the sport has done more than open new horizons. It has also fostered a strong sense of unity and shared purpose among the players.
"Wheelchair basketball has also inculcated in us good behavioral values of humanity. I have made good friendships with other players," he said.
Ezekiel said he was part of the South Sudan national wheelchair basketball team that finished runner-up at the inaugural African Mixed Wheelchair Basketball International Tournament in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 2022.
James Maluach Machindhap, an 18-year-old student representing the Rumbek Warriors from Lakes State, said wheelchair basketball has raised his profile and earned him greater respect in his community.
"People in my village are proud of what I am doing. I plan to show my children the videos of me playing basketball in the future," Maluach said.
Jess Markt, the ICRC Disability and Inclusion Adviser and a wheelchair basketball coach, said South Sudan has considerable potential in the sport, but realizing it will require cooperation among the government, the national basketball federation, and the Paralympic and Olympic committees.
"I got to know these players, many of them since 2017, so almost 10 years now. Many of them were children when I started training them, so we have built a strong bond over the years playing together," Markt said.
Markt said he is teaching the players fundamental strategic concepts as well as individual techniques, including controlling their wheelchairs at high speed, proper shooting, and the passing and dribbling skills used by leading teams around the world.
"Sport has so many different benefits. It provides identity for these players as athletes instead of people with disabilities, but it also changes how they see what they are capable of and changes what society thinks they are capable of," he said.
He added that the sport can open new opportunities for players to find work, attend school and lead fuller lives in South Sudan. ■
