Lutte Traditionnelle

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Traditional wrestlers compete at Boreh in The Gambia.
Traditional wrestlers compete at Boreh in The Gambia.

Lutte Traditionnelle (fr. for Traditional Wrestling) is the name used to describe related styles of West African Folk wrestling, known as Laamb in Senegal, Boreh in The Gambia, Evala in Togo, and KoKowa or simply Lutte Traditionnelle, in Niger and Burkina Faso. International competition takes place during the Jeux de la Francophonie and the newly organised fr:Championnat d'Afrique de lutte traditionnelle.

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[edit] Variation

Since the 1950s, a number of West African traditions have been assimilated into Lutte Traditionnelle as it has become a major spectator sport and cultural event. The major variation has become Laamb, or Senegalese Wrestling, which allows punching (frappe), the only of the West African traditions to do so. As a larger confederation and championship around Lutte Traditionnelle have developed since the 1990s, Senegalese fighters now practice both forms, called officially Lutte Traditionnelle sans frappe (for the international version) and Lutte Traditionnelle avec frappe for the striking version.[1]

[edit] Goal

Two fighters compete in a circular ring, in more formal events bound by sand bags. Each fighter attempts to eject the other from the ring, though they can win by knocking the other off their feet or onto all fours.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Government of Senegal: COMITE NATIONAL DE GESTION DE LA LUTTE.
  2. ^ See a guide to the sport at : Tout savoir sur la lutte sénégalaise: interview with Abdou Wahid Kane, professor of the Sociology of Sport at the Institut national supérieur de l’éducation physique et du sport de Dakar. Badara Diouf, Afrik News, 30 May 2005.

[edit] External links