Once a refugee, basketball player Ater Majok is a World Cup dreamer now

BENGALURU:When he was a young kid, he was forced to flee war-torn Sudan, leaving behind all he considered home. Then came eight painful years in a refugee camp in Cairo, where he was once subject to a knife-attack that left him physically scarred. And then, onto Australia where he was forced to rebuild life from scratch. It’s no surprise that few things on the basketball court faze Ater Majok. He’s been through much worse!

The 6 feet 10 inches-tall Majok though prefers to not speak much of the horrors in his past. It’s clear he has made peace with all that he has gone through.“Let bygone be bygones,” says the Australian-Lebanese hoopster. “There are people, who have gone through much more worse time than me. There might be people who are not even here today after going through a lot of things. I do not hold over anybody or this life. You just have to keep moving and smiling. Stay positive.”

His painful experiences, especially in Cairo, made him mentally tough and instilled in him a never-say-die attitude, something that stood out when Lebanon played India in the World Cup qualifiers on Monday. Despite being up against India’s giant Satnam Singh, the comparatively-shorter Majok ended the night with a match-winning double-double (17 points and 10 rebounds).

“It (eight years in Cairo) helped me a lot. It helped me become tough, mentally. No matter what, you just have to keep fighting, try to succeed. At the end of the day, I have nothing to lose. I come from nothing and I am trying to build everything so I have nothing to lose,” Majok says.   “It also influenced me a lot. Off the court, I am different, very quiet and calm, but on the court, I will try to show off my aggression, and try to dominate any other player. It is about winning, and leaving a legacy.”

After all, it was in Cairo that Majok, who grew up playing volleyball in Sudan, was first exposed to basketball, watching fellow refugees play. When he moved to Australia on a UN visa, the game came in quite handy. He joined an academy in Sydney, where he developed rapidly as a hoopster.

After signing for Homenetmen Beirut in the Lebanese Basketball League, his performances were so good, he was offered the country’s citizenship. “Last year was my first in Lebanon. I played so well for the team and I got a chance to represent Lebanon as I got citizenship. Ever since then, I have been playing with them,” Majok says. His immediate goal is to help Lebanon qualify for the World Cup. If he manages to do that, it will be another eventful chapter in an already incredible story.