Traditional Wrestling

The most popular sport in Senegal is traditional wrestling, also called Laamb in local language. Traditionally, young men used to fight as a distraction, to court wives, prove their manliness, and bring honor to their villages. It takes several years of hard training to become a good wrestler. You can find the boys training by beaches or less commonly in a wrestling arena where the wrestlers have to pay for their training. One of the most popular and known arenas in Senegal is in Manga Arena in Kaolack, lead by former wrestling champion Adiouma Diouf. The training usually stars with a short warm up and after that the boys go straight to fight each other. Usually there are several fights going on at the same time, both while training and while the official competition. The winner is the one who manages to get down his opponent on his back, by any means, there are no fixed rules of what is allowed or forbidden. The wrestlers often wear special talismans also called gris-gris to bring them luck in the fights.

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