▪️Mali’s federation boss Mahamadou Draba confident of a better harvest in Kinshasa
September 23, 2026
World Championships bronze medalist Djibril Traore and Olympian Marine Fatoumata Camara headline Mali’s eight-boxer squad for the upcoming African Elite Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships in Kinshasa, DR Congo.
The West African nation enters the tournament, running from October 18-31, hungry to improve on its 15th-place finish at the 2024 edition.
Mali Boxing Federation President Mahamadou Draba expressed absolute confidence in the selected team.
“Our world bronze medalist Djibril Traoré is more than determined to meet all challenges alongside his teammates,” Draba told boxersworld.co.ke.
“Mali has hidden talents that will pleasantly surprise the Kinshasa public.”
Traore carries significant momentum into the tournament. He made history as Mali’s first-ever World Championships medalist in Dubai 2025, securing a bronze medal after a dominant 5-0 quarter-final victory over Spain’s Sergio Martinez. Traore also claimed Mali’s lone bronze medal at the 2024 African Championships. He is joined in the squad by his namesake, Fousseyni Traore who lost to Iran’s Moslem Maghsoudi in the round of 32 at the Dubai World Championships.
Leading the women’s charge is Marine Fatoumata Camara, a pioneer for Malian boxing. Camara became the country’s first female African Games medalist with a featherweight silver in Rabat 2019. Since then, the southpaw has competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics and won gold at the 2022 Eindhoven Box Cup, where she avenged a previous World Championship loss by defeating Italy’s Jessica Bellusci.
“What made me even happier was beating Bellusci in my first fight to avenge my defeat against her compatriot Irma Testa,” Camara said recalling her defeat to Testa in the 2022 Women’s World Championships in Istanbul.
Mali’s full eight-fighter roster for Kinshasa:
1) Fatoumata Marine Colette Camara
2) Djibril Traoré
3) Fousseyni Traoré
4) Alou Sacko
5) Abdoul Karim Bathily
6) Youssouf Dabo
7) Bakari Diallo
8) Mamadou Keïta
