see Quest Water Global serve as the league\u2019s Official Infrastructure Development Partner in the DRC.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe collaboration tipped off on Tuesday, Sept. 29 with the unveiling of a new outdoor basketball court at Cercle Onatra, Kinshasa, where Mutombo began his basketball journey with Basketball Club Onatra before relocating to the U.S. \u00a0The court pays homage to Mutombo by featuring his iconic No. 55 jersey number at center court and is expected to serve thousands of youth from the local community each year. To celebrate the unveiling, NBA Africa hosted a Jr. NBA\/Jr. WNBA clinic for 80 local coaches.<\/p>\n
As part of the collaboration, a second court will be unveiled in Mutombo\u2019s hometown of Mbuji-Mayi in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cDikembe believed basketball was a powerful tool for teaching young people discipline, teamwork, resilience, leadership, and service to others,\u201d said Rose Mutombo.\u00a0 \u201cMy hope is that this court, and many more to come, will help inspire future generations to embrace these values, pursue education, and discover the opportunities the game can create.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCollaborating with NBA Africa on this court build initiative reflects our shared belief that healthy, thriving communities need more than one thing \u2013 they need clean water, safe spaces, and the opportunity to grow,\u201d said Quest Water Global, Inc. CEO John Balanko.\u00a0 \u201cQuest Water Global is proud to stand alongside NBA Africa in this work, and honored that our collaboration carries forward a spirit of service and community investment that will outlast all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur collaboration with Quest Water Global will expand access to basketball across the Democratic Republic of the Congo \u2013 a country that holds a special place in the history of our game because of the enormous impact and enduring legacy of Dikembe Mutombo,\u201d said NBA Africa CEO Clare Akamanzi.\u00a0 \u201cThrough this multiyear commitment, we are creating more opportunities for young people in Dikembe\u2019s native DRC to follow in his enormous footsteps both as players and leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Selected fourth overall in the 1991 NBA Draft, Mutombo spent 18 years in the NBA during which time he was an eight-time NBA All-Star and four-time Defensive Player of the Year, leading the league in blocked shots three times and becoming the second-leading shot blocker in NBA history.\u00a0 He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.<\/p>\n
Recognized for his philanthropic and humanitarian work, Mutombo was a recipient of many awards, including the Congressional Humanitarian Award (2013), John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health\u2019s Goodermote Humanitarian Award (2011), Laureus World Sports Award (2010), John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award (2010) and the U.S. President\u2019s Service Award (2000).\u00a0 A general hospital he built in Kinshasa and named in memory of his late mother, the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, opened its doors to the public in 2007.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, October 5, 2026\/APO Group\/ — \u2013 Quest Water Global Named League\u2019s Official Infrastructure Development Partner in the Democratic Republic of the Congo \u2013 Multiyear Collaboration Will Support NBA Africa\u2019s Commitment to Build or Renovate 1,000 Courts on the Continent Over the Next Decade\u00a0 NBA Africa (www.NBA.com) and Quest Water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nba.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/7245a82df9070f9","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-more-sport"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nba.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/7245a82df9070f9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}