Bul Kuol has never been to his homeland. He left South Sudan before it was an independent nation, arriving in Canberra as a refugee as a child. So when the South Sudanese basketball team play Australia’s Boomers in Melbourne tonight, Kuol will be filled with mixed emotions. For the emerging basketball star, both countries are part of his identity. Both he calls home.
Kuol is one of a number of South Sudanese-Australian basketball players who have helped the young nation qualify for its first-ever Basketball World Cup, which begins next week in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. For the 26-year-old, the call-up for South Sudan required him to relinquish the opportunity to play for Australia.
