Senegal’s dream of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympic Games’ basketball event are over after they were prevented from travelling to Serbia for their qualifying tournament.

This was after they suffered coronavirus cases in the build-up.

World basketball governing body FIBA said Monday that Senegal would not attend the qualifiers in Belgrade after reporting coronavirus cases last week while in Germany for a tune-up game.

Both FIBA and the German basketball federation tried to ease Senegal’s passage to Serbia but this was blocked by authorities.

Senegal were due to meet Puerto Rico and Italy in their group in Belgrade, but both teams have now been awarded victories.

Germany’s team did not have contact with the Senegal squad while they were in the country.

They begin their own journey to the delayed Tokyo Games on Tuesday in Croatia’s Split against Mexico.(dpa/NAN)