▪️Twenty eight African boxers – nine from Senegal – have so far been swept off by the brutal stormy weather in Bangkok
▪️Amidst the Bangkok downpour, there’s need for IOC to give hosts Senegal special slots for the boxing event and stage another qualifier for African boxers to ensure heavy presence of boxers from the continent in the first ever Olympic Games in Africa.
March 10, 2026
The Bangkok sky turned a bruised, menacing purple over the Huamark Indoor Stadium, a fitting backdrop for the drama unfolding at the Youth Olympic Qualification Tournament.
Amidst the sweltering heat that usually defines Thai boxing nights, a sudden, brutal torrential storm swept through, turning the city into a chaotic, waterlogged landscape—a storm that mirrored the catastrophic collapse of African hopes inside the ring.
While the storm raged outside, the real tempest was inside. In just the first three days, the African boxing contingent faced a brutal reckoning.
So far 28 African boxers have been swept off by the raging floods.
Senegalese team has been hit harder with nine boxers – out of the 15 entered – swept off by the cruel storm. Latest victims from the West African country are male flyweight Cheikh Fall, the first one to last three rounds, female lightweight Ndeye Fatou and female minimumweight Fatou Kane both of whom gave away walkovers for being underweight. Other early African victims today include Kenya’s female flyweight Ellah Demesi who joined compatriot Phelix Ochieng in the casualty list, Libya’s male flyweight Abduwahhab Omar, Benin’s female flyweight Elisabeth Salanon and Botswana’s Annah Maseko.
As lightning illuminates the arena rafters, African boxing teams, harboring dreams of Olympic glory in Dakar, are being systematically “swept off” the qualification map.
The third day had brought even heavier rain, metaphorically speaking, as more African fighters were sent packing with the North Africans – specifically Morocco – doing far much better than boxers from Sub-Saharan Africa.
The scenes in the stands are as dramatic as the weather outside. The sudden, violent elimination of African boxers has caused widespread anxiety among the boxing fraternity, with pundits comparing it to a “massacre” of hopes, similar to previous qualifying disasters.
For Senegalese Star-1 female coach Arame Ba, making her debut in bigtime boxing, the tournament, which had turned out to be a baptism of fire, was intended to be a stepping stone to Dakar for her young boxers but now it has become a treacherous, stormy path, leaving behind a story of resilience shaken by the cold, harsh realities of international boxing.
Amidst the brutal storm in Bangkok, there’s need for IOC to give hosts Senegal automatic qualification and stage another qualifier for African boxers to ensure heavy presence of boxers from the continent in the first ever Olympics Games on African soil.
