The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Americans star in Iraq basketball team co-owned by forces that hit US troops
A PRO basketball team in Iraq is owned by a paramilitary group, and some of its forces recently attacked U.S. troops. But this hostility toward Uncle Sam has its limits: The team is banking on a high-scoring American to help lead them to a championship.
Like many former U.S. college basketball players facing stiff competition for a spot in the NBA, 27-year-old Uchenna Iroegbu of Sacramento has taken his talents abroad, excelling on teams in Nigeria and Qatar. Now the 6-foot point guard is in Baghdad after signing last month with Hashed al-shaabi — the Popular Mobilization Forces — just in time for the Iraqi Basketball Super League playoffs.
From a basketball perspective, signing iroegbuwa san o-brain er; he led Qatar’s league in scoring, averaging 27 points per game.
Politically, it’s a little more complicated. The US has had a fraught relationship with Iraq since its invasion in 2003, which was followed by years of occupation. And that was before Iranian-backed forces within the group that owns Hashed attacked US troops in the region.
Iroegbu, who has been shooting hoops since he was old enough to hold a ball, keeps his focus on basketball and avoids talking about politics. He had never even heard of Hashed before the team made him an offer.
One of three u.s. citizens on the team, Iroegbu considers this assignment to be just like any other. “I’m a pretty simple guy. I go to practice, and if I’m not practicing, I’ m in my room. i hang out with my teammates, play video games, read books — the same old, same old,” he said during a break from practice. Nearby, a young boy walked through the a islesarabic coffee to the few spectators in attendance.
All of Iraq’s teams are stateowned and sponsored by different wings of the government, such as the oil and interior ministries, and they receive partial funding from the Ministry of Youth and Sport. Games are broadcast on a state-run TV channel dedicated to sports.
Hashed is owned by a coalition of primarily Shiite, Iranbacked forces that joined in the fight against the Islamic State militant group in 2014 after it seized large sections of Iraq. Two years later, the Iraqi government designated them as an “independent” unit of its army.
At the time, the Hashed militias were allies of convenience with forces from a Us-led international coalition fighting the Islamic State. But today, some of the groups have a hostile relationship with the US.
Some of the militias launched multiple drone attacks against US bases in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for America’s support of Israel in its war in Gaza.
The coach of Hashed, Akil Najem, said those tensions have no bearing on the team or its players. “The club is a civilian organization and we’re dealing with civilian people, so it doesn’t have any relationship to these politics,” said Najem,
The head of the organization is Jamal Fadel, a former player on Iraq’s national team. “All of the Iraqi teams depend on the international players,” who contribute as much as three-quarters of the team’s points in a given game, he said.