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Traditional Struggle

Savalou, Benin

The fight, traditional sport, is a hand-to-hand fight between two men. The first to overcome his opponent is the winner.

Sport reserved for men (60Kg junior to 80Kg, senior 65Kg to 120Kg).

We have three phases of 3 minutes each interspersed with a minute of break with the presence of a referee.The fight is done on a (circular) area of sand called wrestling arena with a diameter of 11 meters delimited by bags filled with sand. The wrestlers are barefoot, bare-chested, wearing leather breeches or a loincloth wrapped around their hips, wearing talismans on their arms, hips or necks.

This individual sport was practiced once in the clear moon in northern Benin, after the harvest of yams or initiatory ceremonies (passage of young people to adulthood for example).

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