Dakar - Senegal — Defending champions and host Senegal lived up to pre-tournament billing by winning five of the six gold medals at stake at the 5th ECOWAS African Wresting competition which ended at Dakar's Iba Mar Diop Stadium on Saturday 14th July 2012. Apart from winning the country teams' tournament, the wrestlers from the land of Teranga (hospitality) also clinched gold in the 66kg, 86kg, 100kg and 120kg individual weight category finals.
Nigeria placed second on the medals' table after denying the Senegalese the total sweep stake by winning the 76kg individual weight category final, with Joel Enemeti getting the better of his Senegalese opponent Moussa Fall. Niger's Laouali Abdou won the bronze in this category after dismissing Bado Ousmane of Burkina Faso.
Niger came third in the overall ranking of 13 of the 15 ECOWAS Member States that took part in the three-day Dakar competition, by winning silver in the country team event and in the 66kg, 86kg and 100kg bouts plus a bronze in the 76kg. The victorious Senegalese country team took US$10,000 prize money for winning gold; the Niger team US$6,000 for silver, while team Nigeria pocketed US$3,000 for bronze after beating Togo to the 4th position.
Senegal's Saliou Diomaye Diouf beat his Nigerian opponent Opiah Sunday for gold in the final of the 120kg individual weight category fight, with Mali's Abdoulaye Sanago placing third after beating Bikliwe Agnala of Togo. The three top fighters in the 66kg, 76kg, 86kg, 100kg and 120kg individual weight category were rewarded with a gold medal, trophy and US$2,500 cash for the first position, silver and US$1,500 for the second position, and bronze and US$1,000 for the third place.
Senegal's Sports Minister Elhadji Malick Gakou and the ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Gender, Dr. Adrienne Diop, handed the medals and trophy to the country team winners Speaking at the closing the tournament, the Minister congratulated ECOWAS and Senegal's National Committee for the Management of Wrestling for working hard to make the tournament a success. He reaffirmed the commitment of the Government and People of Senegal in support of ECOWAS' objective to engender socio-economic development and regional integration through sports and raising the international status of African wrestling.
The Director of the Ouagadougou-based ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre, Mr. Francis Njoaguani, expressed satisfaction with the level of participation at the Dakar tournament, saying he looked forward to an improvement and more successes in subsequent editions. Wrestlers and officials from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and Senegal participated in this edition of the competition, with Ghana and Cape Verde absent. The tournament is one of the two annual regional wrestling competitions organized by the ECOWAS Commission, through the Youth and Sports Development Centre.
Below is how the countries fared at the end of the Dakar tournament: Country Team placement: 1. Senegal 2. Niger 3. Nigeria 4. Togo Individual Weight Categories: 66kg 1. Chiekh N'diaye (Senegal) 2. Issia Oumarou (Niger) 3. Eselekuma Digha (Nigeria 4. N'dani J. M'bana (Guinea-Bissau) 76kg 1. Joel Enetemi (Nigeria) 2. Moussa Fall (Senegal 3. Laouli Abdou (Niger) 4. Bado Ousmane (Burkina Faso) 86kg 1. Mamadou Diame (Senegal) 2. Yacouba Adamou (Niger) 3. Ibrahima Bamba (Mali) 4. Mangoueu Sylvestre (Cote d'Ivoire) 100kg 1. Fode Sarr (Senegal) 2. Saley Daouda (Niger) 3. Peyebinam Kozon (Togo) 4. Amadou N'dure 120kg 1. Saliou Diomaye Diouf (Senegal) 2. Opiah Sunday (Nigeria) 3. Abdoulaye Sanogo (Mali) 4. Bikliwe Agnala (Togo)
