Multiple UH men’s basketball players set for Olympics

Multiple members of the University of Hawaii men’s basketball program are set to play in the Summer Olympics in Paris later this month.

Current Rainbow Warriors sophomore forward Akira Jacobs made the final roster for the Japan men’s national team, as did ‘Iolani alumnus Hugh Watanabe.

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Additionally, former UH men’s basketball standout Zigmars Raimo made the 3-on-3 team for Latvia, which is one of just eight teams in the competition. Latvia opens 3×3 competition against Lithuania, but will play all seven other teams in a round robin format. The top six teams will advance to the knockout stage.

Also, former ‘men’s basketball ‘Bows guard Junior Madut was named to the 25-man training camp roster for South Sudan, which has yet to officially release a 12-man roster for the Games.

“I’ll preface this by saying there’s not many coaches in the country that speak with more pride about their guys, regardless. And so now here we are. It’s the pinnacle of sport, the Olympics, to be able to follow them through the journey leading up to it, and now in the actual Olympics. It’s incredible,” Hawaii men’s basketball coach Eran Ganot told KHON2 sports director Rob DeMello. “I know I speak for obviously our program, the great people of Hawaii, the University of Hawaii, how proud we are them.

“They’re taking us along for this fun ride. Getting the call from them and hearing that they made the team, we’ve coached a lot of guys from all over the world, and there’s nothing like representing your country. Just to go through that and to hear how happy they were, how emotional they are, just very happy for them.

“These are guys who are on the court, off the court in the classroom, just great young men and watching Zigmars grow through our program. And now here’s Akira on the other end of the extreme as a freshman, he might be the only college athlete in the Olympics for men’s basketball. He might be the youngest player, certainly one of the youngest players in the whole Olympics. So like I said, what an experience for all of us. But they’re going to do really well. They’ve done really well. They’re just so proud of them.”