Home athlete Woreye Ndiaye, who took the athletes' oath at the Dakar 2026 opening ceremony, has withdrawn from the women's Taijiquan Combined after getting injured during her first routine, her coach Ousmane Sakho confirmed to Le Soleil.

Host nation Senegal's wushu debut at the Youth Olympic Games has taken a painful turn. Woreye Ndiaye withdrew from the women's Taijiquan Combined on Monday, 2 November, after getting hurt during her first performance the day before, Senegalese daily Le Soleil reports. National coach Ousmane Sakho confirmed the withdrawal.

Ndiaye had been one of the faces of the Games before she even stepped on the carpet. At the opening ceremony at the Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Diamniadio on 31 October, she took the athletes' oath on behalf of all competitors, as the International Wushu Federation (IWUF) highlighted in its report on the ceremony.

Cheered on by the home crowd

On Sunday she performed her taijishan (fan) routine at the Dakar Expo Center to loud support from the Senegalese public and was placed 11th after the first preliminary round. The nature of the injury has not been made public. Le Soleil did not give details of how it happened.

After her routine, Ndiaye described what the moment meant to her: "For me, it is a great honour to represent my country," she said, as quoted by Le Soleil.

Prepared in China

Ndiaye spent around two months at an intensive training camp in Tianjin, China, before the Games, part of a wider effort to prepare African athletes for wushu's Olympic debut. Speaking to local media before the competition, Sakho said he hoped the experience in Dakar would raise the technical level of wushu in Senegal and let young Senegalese practitioners measure themselves against athletes from other continents.

The women's Taijiquan Combined final, where the first Olympic medals in the event will be awarded, takes place on Tuesday, 3 November.

Sources: Le Soleil, IWUF, Exclusif.net. Photo: IWUF

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