By Daniel Flynn

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

KABROUSSE, Senegal, Mar 14 (Reuters) In a shaded grove between two towering silk cotton trees, young men are silhouetted in the dusty orange twilight as they dance to the rhythm of the drums.

At the head of the line, warriors swathed in red cloth jab their swords and spears in the air as they sing of their valour.

At the back, boys aged five or six jostle and dance distractedly.

The villagers of Kabrousse, in Senegal's lush southern region of Casamance, have assembled to watch their young men prepare for battle. In two days, they will journey to neighbouring Guinea-Bissau to wrestle youths from other villages in an age-old tradition now threatened by modernity.

''I have been the village champion since 1996. I have never been thrown on my back,'' boasts Kouwassenio Diatta, a square-jawed student who has returned from the capital Dakar. ''I came when the elders called me, to wrestle for our village.'' Kabrousse has a proud warrior tradition. It was home to Aline Sitoe Diatta -- Casamance's ''Joan of Arc'' who led a doomed revolt against French colonialism in 1943.

After hours of dancing, the men have carved a rut into the dust. In the centre of their circle, elders too old to wrestle beat the ''tam tam telephonique'' -- a drum made from the trunk of a silk cotton tree and used to communicate with other villages.

''I am known from here to the villages of Guinea-Bissau. When people hear my name, they don't want to wrestle me!'' said the muscular Diatta, who wore feathers on his head. ''There are no prizes but you have prestige.'' It is a far cry from the world of commercial wrestling in the chaotic capital Dakar where giants with nicknames like ''Tyson'' or ''Bomber'' are stars. Their faces scowl from billboards and they command purses of up to 65 million CFA francs (118,000 dollars) for fights lasting only a few minutes.

To make fights more exciting, commercial wrestling permits punching. Purists such as former champion Amadou Katie Diop say that big prizes and media attention are stripping wrestling of its spirituality; others say this is just a sign of the times.

RURAL ROOTS ''Traditional wrestling was an expression of a rural society: the fighter represented his community,'' said sports sociologist Abdou Wahid Kane. ''If wrestling has changed, it reflects society. Wrestlers are businessmen; before they were peasants.'' Wrestling remains the sport of Senegal's rural majority.

While major football matches and basketball are broadcast in French, wrestling is shown in the national language, Wolof.

At his wrestling school in a sandy playground in the backstreets of Dakar's warren-like Medina district, former Olympic wrestler Diop tries to maintain traditions.

''Before, if you were a champion, the villagers gave you everything: bed and board. You did nothing but wrestle to bring home the title,'' said Diop, wearing an embroidered blue robe.

''Now, no one cares about anything but wrestling with punches, because it is all about money,''said Diop, 53.

MORE REUTERS YA BS0854

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