Paris Olympics 2024 organisers in huge anthem blunder as they play WRONG tune for nation making basketball debut

A MAJOR anthem blunder rocked the Paris Olympics after organisers played the WRONG track before South Sudan’s men’s basketball game.

But the African team – who were making their basketball debut – rallied in the second-half to pull off a stunning upset as they beat seasoned pros Puerto Rico 90-79.

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South Sudan pulled off a huge upset after beating Puerto Rico in their men’s basketball Olympic debut[/caption]

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But the start was mared when organisers seemingly played the wrong anthem[/caption]

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Players stood in unison with their hands over their hearts during the blunder[/caption]

But prior to the start of Sunday’s game against the Caribbean island, the national anthem was abruptly cut off 20 seconds in.

Various online posts have claimed it was Sudan’s anthem – and not South Sudan’s – that was played over the arena speakers in Lille.

The South Sudanese stars first stood confused, prompting fans of both teams inside the Pierre Mauroy Stadium to boo. 

Spectators then started clapping as BOTH SETS of players stood in unison with their hands over their hearts waiting for the issue to be resolved.

The audio track was restarted about three minutes later to an ovation from fans.

When it concluded, South Sudan‘s players embraced and promptly pulled off the first major upset, marking just the second time an African team have won a men’s Olympic basketball game since 1996.

Puerto Rico has competed in 10 Olympic Games and has NBA star Jose Alvarado – whose 19 points on Sunday was not enough – among it’s squad.

But South Sudan qualified for men’s basketball for the first time ever last year, after emerging from civil war with Sudan to become an independent nation in 2011. 

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Plenty of South Sudanese fans were in attendance in Lille to support their nation[/caption]

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South Sudan have 14 athletes representing them at Paris 2024, 12 of them in the men’s basketball team and two in athletics.

Abraham Guem will compete in the men’s 800m, while Lucia Morris will run the women’s 100m due to take place during the final week of the Games.

South Sudan made it’s Olympic debut in Rio 2016, where the nation was allotted three universality places to compete in track and field events.

Universality places are designed to increase diversity, and they’re available for National Olympic Committees with traditionally small delegations.

To be eligible for a Universality place, athletes must participate in the Olympic Qualifier Series and finish in the top 24 in the final ranking.

Meanwhile, South Sudan will have to run through Lebron James‘ star-studded United States side and Nikola Jokic’s Serbia.

But the win gives them a puncher’s chance of pulling another upset and sneaking through to the knockout round.

They will face Team USA on Wednesday, July 31, in a rematch of a wildly close and entertaining exhibition in London last week.