There were 83 young Senegalese athletes who completed a two-month training course in China between July and September. This experience, which is part of the preparation for the “Dakar 2026” Youth Olympic Games (YOG), allowed this group of athletes to train in modern infrastructures in order to improve their skills.
Between July and September 2025, China welcomed 83 Senegalese athletes selected for the “Dakar 2026” Youth Olympic Games (YOG). For two months, they participated in a training course and were able to practice at the heart of infrastructures in the province of Tianjin and the cities of Changsha and Chengdu.
For the occasion, twelve infrastructures were made available to them. As a result, the runners of the national team were able to train at the Changsha athletics stadium, while the swimmers got their bearings in the Olympic swimming pool of the same establishment.
Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest titles
The room dedicated to taekwondo at the university of the same city welcomed the fighters of this combat sport. The table tennis players, for their part, trained in the facilities of the Hunan Badminton and Table Tennis Management Center. For wrestlers and judokas, training took place at the Wrestling, Judo and Taekwondo Sports Management Center, also located in Hunan province. Sports shooting has found its training environment at the Hunan Sports Shooting Management Center.
The gymnasts had access to comprehensive equipment at the Hunan Gymnastics Management Center. The fencers, for their part, worked at the Zhenxiang Club, the training base of the Changsha fencing team. In this same context, the training of wushu athletes took place at the Tuanbo sports base, in the city of Tianjin, a center specializing in traditional Chinese martial arts.
Finally, badminton and basketball players improved their game in the sports hall of the Sichuan Sports Institute. Dong Wenhui, one of the Chinese coaches as part of this course, emphasizes that the intensive upgrading in China is an important step for these young people, who want to reach international standards before major competitions.
Chinese pedagogy
“It is important that athletes can have adequate infrastructure in order to continue their development. Chinese coaches have a lot of experience. By observing Senegalese athletes just once, they can already assess their level by comparing their movements to professional athletes,” he notes.
In this vein, Chun Lin, captain of the Hunan province men’s team, believes that “China mainly focuses on technology while Senegal prefers intelligence and strength. I remember that this training was very rich,” he confides while welcoming the contribution of his Senegalese opponents. “The level and strength of Senegalese athletes are always impressive. Their body is very soft and flexible.
The style is different from ours: in China, we emphasize technique, while Senegal values intelligence and strength. This diversity brings a lot to training. The atmosphere is very harmonious and this training has strengthened the friendship between our teams,” he adds. Member of the same judo team, Chen Kehong confirms this atmosphere of mutual aid.
“The Senegalese athletes and coach are very friendly. A real cooperation has been established between us. I received valuable advice from the Senegalese coach to improve my movements and refine the technical details. Which helped me a lot in combat. I am really grateful to them,” he says.
Welcoming Sino-Senegalese cooperation in sports, Avellino Monteiro Gomez, president of the technical commission of the Senegalese National Olympic and Sports Committee (Cnoss) and national head of YOG preparation, recalls that this internship program was carried out by China Olympic Sport Industry, a private structure chosen by the Chinese government. Gomez informs that this training course concerned 12 of the 25 disciplines entered in the “Dakar 2026” YOG.
