Motivation drives players of war-torn countries

SHEFFIELD (Júlio Chitunda’s African Message) - Social instability and success in sports have been historically two incompatible subjects.
But, one thing that Ivory Coast might offer to a few African nations - taking part in the 2013 Afrobasket in Abidjan in August - is a prospect to prove it wrong.

Central African Republic (CAF) and Mali - two of the sixteen national teams qualified to the tournament - are being affected by political turmoil.
At first glance both nations have their chances undermined.

However, CAF’s small forward Max Kouguere is highly motivated to succeed in Abidjan, although he knows little about the team’s training camp.

On other hand, Mali’s center Mohamed Tangara believes the best tribute they could pay to their countrymen and women is by delivering a successful campaign at the tournament.

I wondered if a national team could be successful when their people are being misplaced and seek refuge in the neighbour countries.

The answer to that question is “motivation” which drives players and head coaches who are currently foreign-based and suffer from thousands of miles away from their relatives.

Arizona-based Tangara, for is instance, has been advocating tirelessly on social media for a peaceful solution in Mali.

I have recently caught up with him.

“I have always dreamt of representing my country,” he said.

"I think we have motivation to represent our country Mali, who is going through some internal conflict as we speak, and plus the competition is next door to Mali.

"Ivory Coast and Mali, we are brothers," he added.

Coincidently, Ivory Coast - originally set to host the 2011 Afrobasket - were forced to handover the tournament to Madagascar due to a political instability at the time.

Mali may be under social unrest, but should they select talented players from around the world, including Amara Sy, Ludovic Chelle, Sambou Traore, Nouha Diakite – they might have motives to remain positive.

"It is just a matter of getting together early and having good preparation before the competition," Tangara says, before pointing out that he has not spoken to his colleagues yet but he is “sure that they will come to training camp when they receive the phone call."

“Knowing that I am representing millions of people back home and I get to challenge myself while playing is amazing,” he says.

“Each win with a good performance brings a good feeling for me and gives people what they expect from me,” he explained.

In fact Mali will need extra motivation to square off against Nigeria, Cameroon and Republic of Congo in group D.

“I understand the type of competition we are facing. I have so much respect for Nigeria, Cameroon and Congo,” the 2.09m big man explained.

“They have being doing a great job with their national basketball team, and they have great players from around world. I know some of the players and have played against some, from college, professionally and in African basketball competitions.

“I believe we have a good chance to be in the top 2 of group D.

“I think we will surprise a lot of people this year. I believe people still have the picture of Mali's performance from 2011 Afrobasket (finish 9th), this year will be different.

Should either Mali or CAF succeed in Abidjan regardless of their countries current social situation, then they may proudly say they played their part to restore hope in their countries.

As Nelson Mandela once said sport has the power to change the world.

Júlio Chitunda

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