Senegal's National Youth Fencing Team Attends Training in Changsha

2025-09-21

On the afternoon of September 18, Senegal's national youth fencing team attended a training session at the Mingde Tianxin Fencing Hall, Changsha City. As participants in the technical assistance program for the 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, the team members practiced fencing diligently on the fencing strips under the guidance of Chinese coaches, actively preparing for the Games.

The 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games will kick off in Dakar, marking the first time that the African continent has hosted an Olympic-related event. Notably, wushu (martial arts) will become an official event for the first time at the 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games. To support Senegal in fulfilling its role as the host and preparing actively for the Games, the opening ceremony for the 2025 Senegalese national youth sports team training program in China, part of the technical assistance project for the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games, was held at the Hunan training base in August. The Senegalese sports delegation is scheduled to have a two-month training in China. The delegation consists of twelve teams: track and field, swimming, taekwondo, judo, wrestling, table tennis, pistol shooting, gymnastics, fencing, basketball, badminton, and martial arts. Nine of these teams, including gymnastics and fencing, are training in Changsha.

The welcome ceremony.

A total of eight athletes from Senegal's national youth fencing team have arrived in Changsha. Their training venues are located at the campus fencing facilities jointly established by the Hunan Zhenxiang Youth Fencing Club and local high schools, with Mingde Tianxin Fencing Hall being one of such facilities.

The Chinese national fencing team has also dispatched several renowned coaches to Changsha, including Ning Xiankui, who once trained Olympic champion Tan Xue, and Ye Chong, a former world champion fencer of China. These master coaches will provide guidance to the young fencers during their training sessions.