Senegal will host the next window of the 2025 men’s Afrobasket qualifiers, at Dakar Arena from November 22 to 24. This is the decision finally taken, following a meeting between the Minister of Sports and the presidents of the basketball and judo federations who had planned to organize on the same date and at the same place. By Woury DIALLO –
The Senegalese Basketball Federation will organize the next window of the Afrobasket 2025 qualifiers, at Dakar Arena, on November 22, 23 and 24. This is the decision that was finally taken by the various parties, following the meeting organized yesterday by the Minister of Sports, Ms. Khady Diène Gaye.
A meeting desired by the patroness of Senegalese sport to find a solution between those responsible for the two authorities which had selected Dakar Arena as a competition venue, on the same dates.
For the “Open Dakar 2024”, the Judo Federation was to occupy the Dakar Arena from November 21 to 24. With more than 200 participants expected, this meeting will also be used to organize a seminar and an exam for more than thirty referees.
To save the furniture, the Judo Federation was finally asked to hand over the infrastructure to the orange ball family.
“A solution has been found. There wasn’t really a big problem. We just had to get together and discuss to find common ground. This is what was done and basketball will be able to be organized at Dakar Arena, at the indicated period. It must even be said that the solution was found a long time ago. Now, it was important to meet the minister to also discuss certain aspects,” Le Quotidien learned from a source close to the supervisory authority.
According to the latter, “judo, which must be organized at the same time, should be able to count on the other facilities of the Diamniadio Pole with the Exhibition Center”. It is also in these facilities that the Senegalese Boxing Federation organized, in March 2023, the Zone 2 Championship.
Marius Ndiaye maintained as training ground
Especially since, specifies the source, “the Marius Ndiaye Stadium, which could have been a plan B for judo, will also be maintained to house the training of the different teams. It was in the specifications of the Basketball Federation, so it was difficult to find another alternative to allow judo to occupy Marius Ndiaye’s room.
Moreover, the president of the Fédé, Me Babacar Ndiaye, had confirmed the use of Marius Ndiaye. “In addition to Dakar Arena, we will use the Marius Ndiaye Stadium. These are the specifications that we signed. We need a competition field and a training ground,” he stressed, at the end of the ordinary AGM organized at the beginning of the month.
This is good news for the basketball technical staff who are expecting their players on November 20. The Lions are housed in Group B alongside Cameroon, Gabon and Rwanda. Group C, which will also play its matches at Dakar Arena, is made up of South Sudan, DR Congo, Mali and Mozambique.
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