Senegal’s national women’s basketball team has cancelled a planned training camp in the United States after U.S. authorities denied entry visas to several of the team’s players, the Senegalese government confirmed Thursday.
The decision to call off the U.S. trip came after Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko instructed the Ministry of Sports to immediately scrap the camp, which had been part of the team’s final preparations for the upcoming Afrobasket 2025 tournament.
“After being informed that several members of the national women’s basketball team were denied visas by the United States, I instructed the Minister of Sports to fully cancel the 10-day training camp originally planned there,” Sonko said in a post on Facebook.
Instead, the training will now take place in Dakar, under what Sonko described as a more “sovereign and suitable” environment that will allow athletes to prepare effectively.
Local media reported earlier this week that 12 players had been denied U.S. visas. The team had planned to travel to the U.S. ahead of the 27th Afrobasket, scheduled to take place in Côte d’Ivoire from July 1 to August 3, 2025.
The basis for the denial is not clear. However, the development comes as the U.S. is increasingly restricting access to the US, particularly from African countries, supposedly to protect the US from “foreign terrorists” and other national security threats. US President Trump reportedly is considering adding 36 more countries to his already extensive total travel ban list of 12 countries, seven of which are in Africa.
The current ban does not include Senegal, and one of the stated exceptions to the ban is for athletes or members of an athletic team traveling for the World Cup, the Olympics, or other major sporting events.
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