The president of the Basketball Federation, Mr. Babacar Ndiaye, does not use diplomacy to explain the threats weighing on Senegal, in the event that the federal body does not honor its commitment to organize the next Window of the basketball qualifiers. Afrobasket 2025 at Dakar Arena, on the date selected by Fiba.
On the sidelines of the General Information Assembly of the Basketball Federation on Saturday, the boss of the “orange ball” took the opportunity to comment on the overlap of the Afrobasket 2025 qualifiers with the Judo Open.
According to him, “if we do not organize the Men’s Afrobasket Qualifiers Window on the scheduled date and at Dakar Arena, Senegal risks being sanctioned by Fiba”.
As a reminder, the Fiba Window is scheduled at Dakar Arena from November 22 to 24. Only, in the middle of last week, the Judo Federation announced that it had signed a contract with Sogip (Company for the management of public infrastructure in the urban centers of Diamniadio and Lac Rose) for the organization of the International Judo Open, during the same period (from November 21 to 24, 2024). Better still, the organizers say they have paid a deposit on the 13 million CFA claimed by Sogip.
TUTORSHIP TO DECISION!
Showing a certain optimism, Mr. Babacar Ndiaye clarified that he had already questioned the supervisory authority on the issue. “I didn’t want to go out to the press when I learned that judo wanted to organize there. I called the minister’s chief of staff to inquire about the situation. He reassured me by telling me that he would bring together the parties concerned to find a solution. I believe that there is no reason to worry, because we are required to organize this competition in Dakar under penalty of being financially sanctioned, why not even administratively suspended because we have committed », specified Mr. Ndiaye.
Better yet, he continues, “we all know that Dakar Arena was built thanks to basketball and for basketball following our victory in 2015. Everyone knew that our capital was going to host the November Window for several months… We have already made hotel reservations for the 8 teams, as well as transportation,” informed Me Ndiaye.
As for those who propose the Marius Ndiaye Stadium as plan B for one or the other federation, the president of the Federation emphasized that “it was planned to accommodate team training there. In addition to Dakar Arena, we will use Marius Ndiaye. These are the specifications that we signed. You need a competition field and a training field. Much of the equipment is already on site.
At the same time, the technical staff should publish in the coming hours the list of players selected for this Window. While the start of the gathering is set for next Monday, November 19. 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.
In other words, the ball is in the Minister of Sports’ court.
