Basketball On The Internet.

SINGAPORE: Sudanese-born Adelaide 36ers forward Majok Deng has made a round trip back home without ever getting out of Singapore Airport after an Immigration Department bungle.

And that's Singapore Immigration officials that got it horribly wrong, not anyone at the Sixers.

An Australian citizen travelling on an Australian passport, Deng was stopped at Singapore Airport, led away and isolated from teammates and told he required a visa to enter the island nation.

"He was refused entry because his passport says he was born in Sudan, despite it being an Australian passport," 36ers chief executive Guy Hedderwick said.

Heading for his second NBL season, Deng, 24 and 208cm, has travelled with the team to-and-from New Zealand and also to Summer League in the US without difficulty.

He essentially flew for seven-and-a-half hours to Singapore, was kept in a room for six hours, for much of which he was not allowed his phone, then put on another seven-and-a-half hour flight home!

"There was not a lot we could do," Hedderwick said. "It was a terrible situation for Majok and no fault of his own."

Deng misses Adelaide's participation in the Merlion Cup which starts tonight against Yulon Luxgen Dinos of Chinese Taipei.