There are only 100 days left until the start of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games and the preparations for the competition are now on the final straight. 

Beach Handball Sport Manager at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, Cherif Ndiaye, is a man with a rich and varied handball history. Involved in the sport since a teenager, he has represented his country not only as a player, but as a referee at national, continental and global level as well as being a CAHB (African Handball Confederation) and IHF PRC (Playing Rules and Referees Commission) lecturer.

Nowadays, Ndiaye is First Vice President of the Senegalese Handball Federation and also the Beach Handball Sport Manager at Dakar 2026, both combined with his own job as a HR Consultant.

“Yes, I’ve been in handball since I was 16. I was mainly a goalkeeper, but also played centre back and left back,” says Ndiaye. “I represented Senegal in the men’s youth national team, which included playing at an African junior championship in Benin (Editor’s note: 1982) and I was also a CAHB and IHF referee, whistling at world championships including the 2003 IHF Women’s World Championship in Croatia, I particularly remember whistling the Romania vs Tunisia game there.”

Ndiaye was back in Croatia last month (June), preparing for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games which get underway in Senegal in a little over 100 days, attending the 2026 IHF Men’s and Women’s Beach Handball World Championships, to gather as much knowledge and learnings as possible to take home with him.

Featuring beach handball, the global event runs from 31 October to 13 November with Dakar 2026 marking the second time that beach handball will be part of the Olympic Games, following its debut at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Games are set to take place across five matchdays, from Monday 9 to Friday 13 November at the 'Saly Beach West' venue, a popular seaside and tourist resort based in the Thiès Region on the ‘Petite Côte’ of Senegal, south of the capital, Dakar.

“Since the last Youth Olympic Games in Argentina, Buenos Aires 2018, there have been many, many changes,” says Ndiaye about that debut Olympic Games event for beach handball, which was followed by the global covid pandemic resulting in Dakar being postponed for four more years, to 2026, instead of the originally-planned 2022.

 

“I was in Zagreb to see what happens from an organisational side as we want the same organisation in Dakar. We want at least the same level on and off court for athletes, for delegates and for officials and referees – for everyone.”

For a number of years there has been close co-operation between the IHF and the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (YOGOC) and in the past year that has gone up a level with Hristo Boskoski, IHF office member responsible for Beach Handball in almost daily contact with Ndiaye and his colleagues, including in-person visits.

“We have been meeting online, talking on the phone, on email and Taki (Boskoski) has been to Dakar for site visits at the courts, the hotels as well as having numerous meetings and, of course, we had meetings, including with the IHF Beach Handball Working Group in Croatia too,” explains Ndiaye, who has been following beach handball throughout the 2000s, organising his first tournament back in 2011 with 20 teams from across Senegal, shown live on television.

“Beach handball at Dakar 2026 will be played at the 'Saly Beach West' venue, right next to the sea and with coconut trees – it’s amazing. We will have three match courts and two courts for training and warm-up. I have to thank the IHF who have donated these five court lines, two more court lines as spare, and over 120 balls to us for the event – this is very important for us.

“Before we take over the courts, we will have had the beach volleyball and beach wrestling competitions played on them, so it will all be well-used before we get started but before then, around September time, we will have a local, test event.

“And ahead of Dakar 2026, YOGOC is of course in direct, constant contact with the 15 NOCs (National Olympic Committees) who are sending teams to the beach handball events.”

Also in attendance in Senegal will be Spain’s IHF Women’s Beach Handball World Championship winner, María Asunción Batista Portero – known in the handball world as Asun Batista – who was announced earlier this year as an ‘Athlete Role Model’ (ARM) for Dakar 2026.

Athlete Role Models are an integral part of the Youth Olympic Games, providing mentoring and workshop training to young athletes on site during the global sporting extravaganza.

 

“It's very important that Asun will be there so she can to talk to the young athletes,” says Ndiaye. “She will make these youth athletes feel very proud that they are representing their countries and she will help them to become great athletes in the sport and great people in everyday life.”

Alongside Batista mentoring the young athletes, fans coming to games will be able to see special, bespoke beach handball animations from the sport presentation team as well as a programme for the young people in attendance, including sand to practice the sport on. And on the final day, there is the promise of a big concert on the beach – all key components to keep the sport in the public consciousness, as Ndiaye and his handball federation colleagues look to continue spreading the discipline around the West African nation.

“We are all working hard to have beach handball played all around Senegal,” he explained. “We have long beaches from the north to the south of the country want to have in teams and competitions in all of our regions.

“After Dakar 2026 we will distribute the IHF equipment to make this possible, but we have to make it happen. The sport is very nice to follow for Senegalese people. In the holidays we are playing on the beach all sports and they like beach handball too but it’s easier to get people to play it when they see it – they see it and then want to play it and enjoy it and that’s what we hope to showcase at Dakar 2026.”

With the amount of days remaining until Dakar 2026 almost down into double figures, Ndiaye knows that there is also not long left until Dakar 2026, but he cannot wait to get the beach handball competitions started and showcase the best of the sport, his country and his continent.

“It feels like it is almost tomorrow it is starting but we are all very excited to deliver these Games. Dakar 2026 is the first Olympic Games in Africa and it will be a great event with great competitions,” says a smiling Ndiaye.

“We welcome everyone to come to Dakar and celebrate – it will be amazing for anyone who comes. They will see many nice beaches and people in Senegal. We have the word ‘Teranga’, it is a Senegalese word which means to receive people and give good hospitality and anyone coming will experience that first-hand.”