Sexual abuse scandal overshadows start of Women’s Afrobasket finals

Africa’s women’s basketballers take to the court for the start of the continental championships on Saturday under the shadow of one of the continent’s biggest sexual abuse scandals.

Earlier this week, a report commissioned by basketball’s governing body Fiba detailed widespread and long-standing abuse in the women’s game in Mali, particularly among teenagers.

The report cleared Fiba’s own president, Malian Hamane Niang, of neglecting the abuse while he led the Malian basketball federation (FMBB) between 1999 and 2007.

Mali are one of 12 teams taking part in the Women’s Afrobasketexternal-link tournament in Cameroon where only the finalists will be in contention to reach next year’s World Cup.

Mali’s female players – who have suffered ‘decades’ of abuse – have finally been heard but getting to this point has been far from easy.