Dakar 2026: Zain Ali's gold and Matar Diop's bronze as Africa takes four medals on the first finals day
Africa won 4 of the 27 medals on Sunday: gold for Egyptian swimmer Zain Ali, silver for South Africa's Leah Markgraaff, and judo bronzes for Senegal's Matar Diop and Zambia's Elisha Zimba.
SNA – Multisport · Author profile · · Updated 02/11/2026 13:55 UTC
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Seventeen seconds of golden score gave Senegal its first medal of its own Games. Shortly before 5pm on Sunday at the Dakar Expo Center, Matar Diop and France's Nathan Gbingbehi were level at one yuko each when regulation ran out in their under-66kg bronze contest. A waza-ari settled it. The first evening of finals closed with four African medals from eight events: one gold, one silver, two bronze, each for a different country.
Beaten by the eventual champion, back through the repechage
Diop's route shows how judo works, because a quarter-final defeat does not end a medal run. According to Senegalese broadcaster RTS, he beat Peru's Yesus Perea Vallve in the last 16. Ukraine's Khazar Heydarov then threw him for ippon in the quarters, and went on to take gold after 3min 41sec of golden score against Canada's Anes Mati. Diop came back through the repechage, beating Jamaica's Larone Gow, to set up the meeting with Gbingbehi.
Zambia took the same road at under-55kg. Elisha Zimba won his bronze by ippon in 1min 14sec against Saudi Arabia's Mutaz Hebah. Botswana's Theresa Tagarira fell one contest short at under-44kg, beaten by Venezuela's Rosalvick Aguilar.
Zain Ali, alone under 54 seconds
Africa's only title of the day came in the pool. In the 100m butterfly final, Zain Ali turned first at 50m in 24.18 and touched in 52.16. Serbia's Aleksej Kalanj, in second, finished 1.87 seconds back, and nobody else in the final broke 54 seconds. Kenya's Jeremy Rieck came sixth in 55.51.
Hours earlier, Leah Markgraaff had put the continent on the board in the 400m freestyle, the first medal event of the Games. The 17-year-old South African led at 100m, was caught in the middle of the race and finished second in 4:26.13 behind Ecuador's Elvira Espinosa (4:22.87). "I am so proud to be representing my country and to bring home our first medal is incredibly special to me," she told Team SA. Tunisia's Ilef Zouaghi, 14 and the youngest in the field according to Africa Aquatics, came fifth in 4:29.42.
South Africa into the sevens semis
South Africa won all three of their pool matches: 43-5 against Senegal, 24-17 against Canada and 34-7 against Germany. That run earned them Monday's semi-final against Argentina. Senegal, who also lost to Canada (40-0) and Germany (31-12), dropped into the 5th-8th bracket. Uganda lost all three of their games.
Futsal, beach volleyball, baseball5: the rest of Sunday
Senegal's women beat Fiji 8-1 in futsal after leading 4-1 at the break. Cameroon lost 4-2 to Italy.
On the sand, Senegal's Aminata Tine and Nafi Segnane beat the Dominican Republic 2-0 for their second win of the tournament, then lost 2-0 to Malaysia. Senegal's men followed the same pattern: 2-0 against Sweden, then 2-0 down against Türkiye. DR Congo, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt each won a match too.
In baseball5, Kenya beat Syria 2-0 to finish their group with three wins from three. Senegal lost 2-0 to Türkiye and finished without a win. In table tennis, Egypt's Elbadawy and Elsayed, Tunisia's Saidi, Nigeria's Kuti and Uganda's Nakawala each won at least one singles match.
What four medals do and do not tell us
They are no ranking. Only 8 of the 153 events have been decided, and athletics does not start until November 8. The point is simpler: on the first day of finals, four African countries stood on the podiums of these Games, in the pool and on the mat. SNA's Dakar 2026 page follows the results live.
Nine more titles are decided on Monday, November 2, including the men's sevens, with the final set for 17:05 GMT. Senegal's men's futsal team plays Argentina at 17:30 GMT.