Cobra Sport

Cobra Sport
Nickname	CSC
Conference	Nile
Leagues	CESBA Basketball Africa League
Founded	2017
History	Cobra Sport 2017–present
Arena	Dr. Biar Sports Complex
Location	Juba, South Sudan
General manager	Ajak Biar Deng
Head coach	Manny Berberi
Championships	3 South Sudanese Leagues 1 Manute Bol Cup
Home Away

Cobra Sports Club, commonly known as Cobra Sport, are a South Sudanese basketball team based in Juba, South Sudan. The team was established in 2017 and plays in the Central Equatoria State Basketball Association (CESBA). Cobra has won three national championships.

Cobra played in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) during the 2022 season as the first team from South Sudan in league history.

History

The sports club was founded in 2014 by Biardit Company Limited. ^[1] The basketball team was established in 2017. ^[2]

Basketball Africa League

In 2020, Cobra played in its first continental games when it participated in the qualifiers for the 2020 BAL season. ^{[3] [4]} Cobra played in Group F in Antananarivo and ended in third place, missing out on advancing to the next round. ^[5] However, the club advanced with a wild card before losing all next three games in the Elite 16 stage.

On 20 September 2021, Cobra signed John Jevish Omondi from Kenya as their new head coach. ^[2] The team played in the 2022 BAL qualification for a second straight season. In the first round, the team lost both its games but managed to advance with a wild card given by FIBA. Ahead of the second round, the team acquired Kenyan international Tom Wamukota and Rwandan international Dieudonné Ndizeye. With its strengthened roster, Cobra managed to advance to the semi-finals after defeating Ulinzi Warriors in the second round. On December 10, 2021, Cobra defeated New Star and claimed a spot in the regular season of the 2022 BAL season. ^[6] The team became the first-ever team from South Sudan to qualify for the BAL.

Honours

CESBA ^[7]

• Champions (3): 2018, 2019, 2021–22

The NBA Legend Manute Bol Cup

• Winners (1): 2019

In the Basketball Africa League

Season	Road to BAL					Main competition
	W	L	Result	Qualified		W	L	Result
2021	2	5	Elite 16			DNQ
2022	2	4	Silver			1	4	Group Phase
2023	Withdrew					DNQ
Total	4	9	1/1			1	4

Players

Main category: Cobra Sport players

Current roster

The following is the Cobra Sport 13-man roster for the 2022 BAL season group phase: ^[8]

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Cobra Sport roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age PG 00 Dieu, Gatwang 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 22 – (2003-01-01)1 January 2003 PF 1 Kiir, Mayan 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 27 – (1998-01-01)1 January 1998 SF 2 Wek, Nyang 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 29 – (1996-03-06)6 March 1996 G 5 Wang, Padiet 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 27 – (1998-01-13)13 January 1998 PG 10 Harrington, Jared  (I) 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 28 – (1997-04-23)23 April 1997 PF 11 Lado, Alex  (C) 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 30 – (1995-05-13)13 May 1995 PF 14 Deng, David 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 24 – (2000-06-25)25 June 2000 C 21 Hampton, Leon  (I) 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) 30 – (1995-06-13)13 June 1995 F 23 Malual, Malual 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 24 – (2000-07-30)30 July 2000 C 24 Maluach, Khaman  (E) 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) 18 – (2006-09-14)14 September 2006 C 34 Akuei, Lual 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 34 – (1991-01-12)12 January 1991 C Wamukota, Tom    (I) 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) 31 – (1993-09-08)8 September 1993	Head coach Manny Berberi Assistant coach(es) John Omondi Majak Kou Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import player (E): BAL Elevate player Injured Roster Updated: April 9, 2022

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

• Tony Marino Anthony
• Samir Loduo
• Khaman Maluach
• Alex Tombe
• Nyang Wek
• Tom Wamukota
• Dieudonné Ndizeye

References

1. "Cobra Sports (SOUTH SUDAN)". The BAL. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
2. "Cobra basketball club sign new head coach". The City Review South Sudan. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
3. "Cobra at the Africa Champions Clubs ROAD TO B.A.L 2020 2019". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
4. "Cobra basketball team in Madagascar". 28 October 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
5. "Cobra suffer elimination". 4 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
6. "Ferroviario da Beira and Cobra Sport make history by booking tickets to Basketball Africa League 2022". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
7. "Cobra Sports Club (SOUTH SUDAN)". Basketball Africa League - BAL. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
8. Cobra Sport - Team Profile at FIBA.com

External links

• Cobra Sports Club at Facebook
• Cobra Sports Club at Instagram