Shoeless Mexican Indian kids win sweep through youth basketball

MEXICO CITY – A team of Trique Indian boys from the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca are sweeping through youth basketball competitions, despite their generally short stature — and the fact that most play barefoot.

One of the Trique team coaches says many of boys can't afford sneakers and have become accustomed to playing without them.

The team won all six of its games at the recent International Festival of Mini-Basketball held in Argentina.

Ernesto Merino said other teams dubbed them the "the barefoot mice from Mexico."

The team's performance won it a minute of applause on the floor of the lower house of Mexico's Congress Wednesday.

News of their achievements came at a particularly sensitive time for Mexico, which is mourning the poor performance of its once-well-regarded national soccer team.