Senegal women’s basketball training in US cancelled after visas rejected

A training camp for the Senegalese women’s basketball team in the United States has been rebuilt, the Prime Minister of the West African nation saying that he had canceled it because some of the teams were refused visas.

Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said the team would now train in the capital of Senegal, Dakar, “in a sovereign and conducive setting”.

It comes in the middle reports that the United States plan to impose new travel restrictions on 25 additional African countriesincluding Senegal.

Earlier this month, the United States announced A ban on citizens in 12 countries, including seven Africa. There have also been partial travel restrictions on nationals of seven other countries, with three from Africa.

We still don’t know why Senegalese athletes have been denied visas, because the United States Embassy has not yet commented on the issue.

“Informed of the refusal to deliver visas to several members of the National Women’s Basketball team in Senegal, I asked the Ministry of Sports to simply cancel the ten-day preparatory training initially planned in the United States of America,” Sonko said in a share shared on social media.

The reports indicate that five Senegalese basketball players and 13 team officials were traveling to meet other team members and their coach who were already in the United States, to warm up for the Afrobasket women’s tournament in 2025 at Côte d’Ivoire next month.

But their visa requests were not approved.

Senegal has one of the best African female basketball teams-constantly reaching the last four Afrobasket tournaments and boasting of players from the best leagues in the United States, Europe and Egypt.

The refusals of the visas increase the eyebrows because, according to the recently disclosed diplomatic cable containing details on prolonged travel restrictions, the targeted countries were given up to 60 days to respond to the concerns raised by the United States.

These include people who go beyond their visas, the lack of cooperation with deportations, links with terrorist attacks in the United States, anti-Semitism or what he called “anti-American” activity.

Following the new travel restrictions reported, the Senegal Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged nationals to comply with their periods of stay authorized in the United States.

Although it has not directly commented on the possible inclusion of Senegal in the last list of limited countries, the government’s declaration stressed that diplomatic and consular services worked closely with the American administration.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Nigeria for Foreign Affairs, Yussuf Tuggar, said that widening travel prohibitions could hinder possible energy and mineral transactions that West African countries can offer in the United States.

The Trump administration insists on the concerns of national security and the high visa rate exceeds certain countries must be addressed.