After their World Cup defeat to Serbia, two Mali basketball players were seen throwing punches at one another in wild scenes.
The fight between Salimatou and Kamite Elisabeth Dabou broke up during an interview in post-match with Sasa Cado from Serbia. It was caught by a Serbian television camera.
Kourouma throws a series of punches at Dabou as she tries to wrestle and lock her up. It appears that her actions were defensive rather than retaliatory.
Salimatou Kourouma from Mali is currently in Australia to represent Mali at Women’s Basketball World Cup. After a loss, she hurled a series of punches at one of her teammates.
The pair is thrown apart by their teammates in front of shocked Cado.
The cause of the spat is still unknown, however, Mahamadou Kaante, a star male basketball player, posted a defense on Instagram.
“I have seen some people who don’t care about what transpired after the Serbia game.” It is natural that people have misunderstandings. This group is my family.
Salimatou Kouma (left), can be seen throwing three punches towards Kamite Elisabeth Dbou
Kante continues to say, “It’s a family,” four more times.
Diana Gandega is a prominent former female player who represented Mali in the 2008 Olympics. She also deflected any criticism of the punch-up.
Gandega posts a series long Instagram posts in which she criticizes the media for not reporting on the fight. However, Gandega does not mention the suffering of athletes before the fight, saying that they were made to sleep at airports.
Salimatou Kourouma shared this image to Instagram from her attendance at her sister’s wedding last month.
Gendega said in French that she is still waiting for the same media support for our players (Senegalese, Malian) who had to be stranded on the ground because there was no prior organisation.
“One error that can, or will make a nation look bad (could even) ruin a continent of sportsmen” This beautiful team was fighting for the shirt and almost everyone (supporting) it. There is now rift and the world relays (the fight footage).
“Yes. They should not have behaved in public like this: dirty laundry gets swept away from view. Today, this laundry is scattered in public and Africa is judged on its stupidity for just a few seconds.
“Let’s not transmit the video to our networks, because it is still giving us the whip.” We must educate the youth. Gandega’s last post.
Salimatou Kourouma from Mali was also a player.
FIBA issued a statement confirming that they will investigate the brawl.
FIBA opened an investigation into the incident. FIBA will take any appropriate disclipinary steps once the investigation is complete, according to the statement.
Kourouma has been contracted by Stade Malien (a professional team located in Mali’s capital, Bamako).
This forward is also a top player on the team. He has played in NCAA college basketball in America, Little Rock.
Salimatou Kourouma is pictured during Mali’s earlier match against Japan in the tournament
When she played at Grayson College, NJCAA level, Grayson College was the Newcomer to the League. She also received All-State honors in pre-prep.
Dabou in Mali plays for Centre Dorinthie Basket.
Mali, a late replacement of African champions Nigeria who had been pulled out by their government, qualified for their second World Cup.
Kamite Elisabeth Dabou, centre, is shown playing against Serbia right before the scuffle
Mali is currently 37th on the list and the bottom-ranked player in the tournament.
While the Malians are competitive on some occasions, their loss to Australia of 118-58 was not a bad result.
The Opals’ dramatic three-point loss to Canada on Monday night, their Group B leaders Canada are up next.