The Senegal Ambassador to The Gambia, His Excellency Babacar Diagne, has described The Gambia as a country blessed with young and talented wrestlers who are good enough to compete against those from his country. He said that the difference between the two is that the sport has more promoters and sponsorship in Senegal.

Ambassador Diagne made these remarks in an exclusive interview with Observer Sports, Saturday at the Serekunda West Mini-Stadium, where he attended the second and final of the two-day ECOWAS Traditional Wrestling Championship. Three countries -Nigeria, Guinea Bissau and Senegal joined hosts Gambia in the first ever edition of the four-nation championship. The championship, which was organised by ECOWAS in partnership with the Gambian Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Gambia Wrestling Association (GBA), saw Senegal emerge as winners followed by Nigeria in second and Guinea Bissau in third position. Gambia came fourth.

Ambassador Diagne opined that wrestling is more than just a sport and can be a viable business for youths. He also revealed that some Senegalese wrestlers earn up to 300,000 CFA in a single bout. He assured of his embassy's commitment in seeing that wrestling continues to gain momentum in The Gambia. He said his embassy is looking at ways of promoting Gambian wrestling in form of sponsorship and the support of Senegalese promoters like Gaston.

The Senegalese ambassador also hailed the Gambian promoters and the GWA for their hard work and support in revitalising Gambian wrestling, while urging them to organise more competitions of such nature. "Wrestling is ours, the true African cultural game; we must promote and support it to the maximum," he added.