Overview

• On June 19, the US denied 12 new visas—five for players and seven for staff—for Senegal’s women’s basketball team and renewed only existing permits.
• The visa refusals occurred as Washington weighs adding Senegal to a travel ban list of 36 nations.
• Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko cancelled the team’s 10-day US training camp scheduled June 22–July 3 before Afrobasket 2025.
• Senegal will now hold its pre-tournament practice in Dakar following the visa denials.
• Sonko credited China with supplying athlete training scholarships, highlighting Senegal’s turn to alternative partnerships.