Women step into the ring at west African wrestling tournament

AFP, Abuja:

Legs taut, backs bent at the waist, the wrestlers slowly stretched out their arms towards each other, searching for a grip while trying to avoid becoming exposed themselves.

In a flash it was all over — a tangle of grappling, pushing and jostling that ended with the Beninese fighter tossed to the ground by her Nigerian counterpart, the soft sand surface spraying out beneath her.

Traditional west African wrestling — and the gargantuan, sometimes sumo-like men who step into the ring — captivates audiences across the region, from stadiums in Senegal to desert villages in Niger.

This month’s ECOWAS wrestling tournament, however, marked the first time that the annual showdown featured a women’s division, drawing competitors from across the regional bloc to the Nigerian capital Abuja.

“Women know how to fight. We just had to be given a chance,” 33-year-old Ivorian fighter Celine Bakayoko told AFP from the sidelines.

She only started competing professionally in 2019, but she said she grew up wrestling with her friends, adding that “for us, it’s not a sport, it’s an innate practice.” “They look serious, they don’t look like they’re just coming here to fill a gap,” spectator Yussuff Fashola said.

Though the tournament, which continued into the weekend, marked a step forwards for women in the male-dominated sport, “to get other females on your team, to be able to train with them… that’s the challenge,” said Ghana’s Jocelyn Asante.