Players from Mali’s winless team fought backstage after a loss to Serbia
The scenes unfolded at the World Cup in Australia. © YouTube / Sport Klub
Two members of Mali’s national women’s basketball team were recorded fighting one another following a defeat to Serbia at the FIBA Women’s World Cup.
Recovering from their own loss to hosts Australia, Serbia fired back with a 81-68 win which prevented the winless West Africans from being able to qualify for the quarterfinals.
As Serbian top scorer Sasa Cado gave a post-match interview to national media outlet Sport Klub afterwards, one of her answers was interrupted by loud noises coming from another part of the mixed zone.
As a YouTube clip of the incident shows, Cado is heard yelling out as the camera pans to the side to reveal two Mali players involved in a brawl.
One of the players, identified as Salimatou Kourouma, can be seen putting her best efforts into trying to punch Kamite Elisabeth, who puts her arms under her attacker in a boxing-like clinch.
The two women are separated by other players and members of the coaching staff, with the incident adding insult and injury to Mali’s forgettable World Cup campaign.
Suffering an average 30.25-point margin of defeat, Mali have lost each one of their four games at the tournament so far.
Kourouma has averaged 5.3 points for her team and 4.5 rebounds, while Dabou has put up 3.8 points and one rebound per game.
On Tuesday, Mali can try and restore some pride by beating Canada before heading home.
Serbia face France in their next outing but are guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals regardless of the outcome, providing Japan lose to Australia.
Elsewhere, the USA team racked up a record points haul for the World Cup as they defeated South Korea 145-69 on Monday.
