Official sacked after playing wrong Kenyan anthem at Afrobasket qualifiers

The embarrassing gaffe occurred on Monday during Kenya’s first group-stage game at the Zone 5 qualifiers against Uganda.

As the national women’s basketball team, Lionesses, lined up before the clash, the wrong recorded audio for the Kenyan national anthem was played for about 19 seconds.

The audio was corrected after a short pause, then “Amkeni Ndugu Zetu” was played followed by an ovation from the crowd as the players applauded in unison.

“The person responsible for playing the wrong national anthem in the Kenya vs Uganda Game in the FIBA Women’s Afrobasket Qualifiers, has been fired and a report written to FIBA,” Kenya National Basketball Association (NBA) said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Lionesses went on to lose the first group phase game, falling 78-56 to Uganda before losing 86-69 to South Sudan in the second match on Tuesday.

The George Mayienga-led side will aim to bounce against Burundi in Wednesday’s 3:30pm clash.

They will wind up their preliminary matches against hosts Egypt on Friday.

Monday's anthem blunder follows a similar occurrence during the 2024 Olympics in France, where the wrong national anthem was played for South Sudan ahead of their opening men’s basketball game against Puerto Rico.

It followed another blunder where South Korea's athletes were mistakenly introduced as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" - the official name of North Korea, during the opening ceremony of the Games.