WHEN Kai Sotto faces South Sudan on Thursday in the classification round of the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup, there will be a familiar face on the other side.
Sunday Dech will be with Sotto on the same court following their stint with the Adelaide 36ers in Australia.
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The 29-year-old Dech is an Australian-South Sudanese cager who has been with the 36ers since 2020. Dech looks forward to battling with Sotto, who played for Adelaide from 2021 to 2023 before moving to the Japan B.League with the Hiroshima Dragonflies.
South Sudan was relegated to the classification phase after their 115-83 loss to Serbia on Wednesday.
“We are looking forward to it. Obviously, it was a bitter one tonight. We didn’t get the job done. But now, we regroup and take the learnings and look forward to playing Kai and Gilas,” said Dech.
Dech said he has been following Sotto’s games in the World Cup, and has been catching up with him in their team hotel.
“I watched all his games. He is really a close friend of mine. We talk everyday. It’s good that we are in the same hotel. Hopefully, we get to go out there tomorrow and get the win,” said Dech.
Like Gilas Pilipinas, South Sudan is also eyeing to get the lone place in the 2024 Olympics for Africa in the classification phase.
“We talked about it earlier. We had all the scenarios laid out. Facing him would be great,” said Dech, who is averaging 4.7 points and 2.0 assists in 17.8 minutes of play with South Sudan.
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