Serbian player Sasa Cado was quietly commenting in front of a journalist the victory of his national team, this Monday against Mali (81-68), when the mixed zone of the Olympic hall in Sydney suddenly became explosive. Two Malian players, Salimatou Kourouma (23) and Kamite Elisabeth Dabou (17), indeed appeared not far from her, surrounded by several teammates.
And for good reason, the two wingers, who play in the Malian championship, came to blows violently. In the video posted on Twitter, after it was broadcast by a Serbian media, we clearly see Salimatou Kourouma chaining punches in the direction of his young partner, the youngest of this Basketball World Cup.
“They deeply regret their behavior”
The Malian team, which lost in its first four meetings in Australia, but which for example caused problems for the French team on Sunday (59-74), obviously hoped to be noticed only for its progress. on the field during this competition. “I want to clarify that this is really not the image we wanted to convey, reacted this Monday on Twitter the Malian leader Touty Gandega. God knows that we get along well, and this is unfortunately a slippage that we would have liked to avoid. »
Apologizing “to the Malian people and the African people”, the AS Aulnoye player (French League 2) is well aware that this episode is “a madness”. “The little ones deeply regret their behavior,” insists Touty Gandega. Eyes will no doubt be more focused now on Mali’s last match in this Women’s World Cup, Tuesday against Canada. Fiba has also not yet indicated whether the two players concerned will be sanctioned.