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Aliou Drame becomes African champion for the third time in a row

26 juillet 2026

Oran, Algeria

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Senegal's Aliou Drame became African champion in para compound for the third time in a row at the Oran 2026 African Archery Championships, after wins in Abidjan in 2025 and Nabeul in 2023.

“I’m very happy to have won it again for the third time,” said the Paralympian who competed at Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

“I was really looking forward to it, too. It wasn’t easy, so I couldn’t just boast to myself that I’d be better because you never know. In sports, anything can happen. We can start thinking about the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.”

In the end, it was not a competitive final against Namibia’s De-Villiers Visser, but Drame, who lives and trains in France, was keen to see others push towards the highest levels of the sport. “I have to fight as an African. You always have to look ahead to improve and try your very best to get there.”

In women’s compound, an all-Namibian final saw Jacqueline Coetzee, the champion two years ago in Nabeul, beat top seed Elisabeth Taljaard in a shoot-off after Taljaard fought back from a shaky start and both women scored 128. “At the end of the day, it just comes down to who is the calmest at the end.” said Coetzee.

“It all comes back to basics. Sometimes you need to get yourself up again. It's never over until that last arrow has landed in the ten. Just keep on fighting.”

There was more good news for Namibia after Jannie Meuwesen beat last year’s winner Adrien Charoux for the compound men’s title, and the pairing of Meuwesen and Taljaard took the compound mixed team title earlier in the day.

In barebow men, the 20-year-old Junior Aristide Falang Delli took Cameroon‘s only medal of the championships, winning gold against veteran Nacim Younsi of the host nation, 6-2. The two match points were the only points Delli dropped across the competition in a dominant performance.

“Of course, there were ups and downs. There were certain days when I got too stressed out
when I had to face my opponents, especially in the quarterfinals, against my first Algerian opponent, but it turned out okay—I won 6-0. How does it feel to be the African champion? It makes me want to cry. They’re tears of joy.”

“What would I tell my younger self? Well, I’d tell him to play sports, to play the sports he loves, so that he can be elected for the national team and proudly represent his country abroad.”

There was better news for Algeria in the women’s barebow final, with Marwa Rahmoun easily defeating Nigeria‘s Faith Adekogbe for the championship.

The competition concludes with the individual compound and recurve finals on Sunday.