Remembering basketball legend Fundi Karnet

 

Remembering basketball legend Fundi Karnet 

Fundi Karnet (middle) at the women' race in the place of independence, 3rd March, 2014
 

I met Abdallah Ali Soilihi for the first time in the early 1970s at the French school known as ‘Catholic Mission’ school in Moroni. It was during a basketball show at our school.  We know each other since 1974. Mr. Ali Soilih was born in the city of Iconi in 1936. The young boy went to Madagascar to study. After his studies, he became one of the brilliant basketball players of his generation. He had played in several Malagasy basketball teams including the national team. He also did the French military service.

Ali Soilihi decided to visit his native land in 1966 with a Malagasy basketball team in order to demonstrate the basketball game to the teachers of the Comorian schools. He never returned to Madagascar. Ali Soilihi is well known as Fundi Karnet. He is the founding father of the introduction and emergence of the basketball in Comoros. As a teacher in the public service, Fundi Karnet has taught the basketball discipline to many students, especially at Said Mohamed Cheikh public high school in Moroni.  

As a coach of the national basketball team, he won the gold medal at the first Indian Ocean Islands Games held in the French island of la Reunion in 1979. Fundi Karnet was often slamming the other Comorian sporting federations which did nothing to improve and develop their disciplines. Nevertheless, he was always recognizing two ministers in charge of sports and youth. Said Mohamed Djohar persuaded him to come back home in 1966 in order to develop the basketball discipline. ‘‘Without Djohar, I would have stayed in France and become today a Je Viens,’’ he said.  Salim Idarousse has set up in the early 1980s the national institute of youth and sports known as INJS. The aim of that training center was to train technical young cadres in several sport disciplines.

In 1988, Fundi Karnet launched the Comorian federation of school and college sports known as FCSSU.  The federation has allowed many young Comorian sportsmen and sportswomen to attend and participate in international sporting events. In 2011, while Africa celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the introduction of basketball in the African continent, the Comorian federation of basketball decorated some former Comorian basketball players. Fundi Karnet, then aged of 75 years old got a certificate of recognition for his services to the country. ‘’I am glad to be awarded today in front of these young people and the Comorian authorities for all I did for the development of the Comorian basketball,’’ he said.    

Fund Karnet was also decorated the same year with the Green Crescent known as ‘Anjouan Star’, the highly national distinction by President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi. In his city of Iconi, a basketball court has been named after him since September 1999. Fundi Karnet was always optimistic about the Comorian sport. ‘’Got them sporting scholarships and train the athletes of tomorrow, ‘’ he said. He passed away on 21 January 2021 at the age of 85. Fundi karnet had married Amina Kafani in Majunga.  He got two children who live in France and six grandchildren.    

Fundi Karnet was friendly with many people of different ages. He also had a great sense of humor. When I met him and after the usual greetings, he always asked me this question: do you regret to live in Comoros instead of living abroad? Not at all, I always replied. And he tells me this story. Once upon a time, a guy was driving his car heading to Iconi. When he saw me, he stopped.  ‘‘Get in the car because we regret to stay in France, ‘’ the man said ironically. He told me that the guy did his traditional Great Marriage and owned several properties like many members of the Comorian diaspora.

26 January 2021

Contributing writer

Chami Mouzawar