Senegal women’s basketball team faces Mexico travel crisis

Four Senegal women’s basketball players remain stranded in Mexico after a troubled Olympic qualifying trip, with the episode raising fresh concerns about the national team’s travel arrangements and player welfare. The rest of the delegation has returned home, while Madjiguène Sène, Dioma Kane, Nogaye Diagne and Sabou Guèye are still waiting in a Mexico City hotel for a flight to Dakar.

The players are due to leave on Monday and arrive in Senegal on Wednesday. Their journey to the tournament in Guadalajara involved repeated trips between Senegal and Morocco for visa procedures, followed by travel through Brazil and Colombia. At the Brazilian stop, they could not retrieve their luggage because they lacked the visa needed to clear customs and check in again. Their clothes, toiletries and personal belongings were left behind, while some players experienced vomiting, diarrhoea and heart palpitations during the journey.

They reached Guadalajara only a day before Senegal’s opening game and began the tournament without their bags or reliable access to payment. The disruption contributed to a week without normal training and general exhaustion. Senegal finished the qualifying event with three defeats. Further ticket problems affected the return trip from Guadalajara, forcing some players to buy air tickets or pay baggage charges themselves while awaiting reimbursement. One player also sought financial help from a relative to buy food and support her teammates. Kane’s recent call for players to speak and ask questions added tension, although the technical staff was not considered responsible for the logistical failures.