Big change in Senegalese wrestling - 12th January 2024

VAR - video assisted refereeing - is already used in football, cricket and other sports. It's now entered the historic sport of Senegalese wrestling.

Senegalese wrestling is also called La Lutte. It's a traditional kind of wrestling, which is found in West Africa. But the Senegalese type lets fighters hit one another.

La Lutte champions are big celebrities, so the referees' decisions are extremely important. If fans disagree, they sometimes break up the stadium!

This sports journalist, Malal Junior Diagne, thinks VAR could solve the problem.

Malal Junior Diagne: "It will enable wrestling to move past situations involving disputes during matches and unclear falls. It will allow these disputes to be settled in the arena itself."

With the VAR system, three cameras are used. There's a team of people and a VAR officer. Images from the game go to a screen. The VAR team or the referee can watch it. It can be helpful when making a decision.

Sitor Ndour: "If there's a dispute, if there's a fall that leads to confusion, the referee of the bout can stop and come and ask for VAR, just as we, being in VAR, can ask the referee to come and review the images before he gives the decision. The aim is simply to get to the right decision."

As champions can win thousands of euros, VAR could be really important. Wrestler Bombardier believes VAR should be seen by the stadium fans too.

Serigne Ousmane aka Bombardier: "VAR has to be displayed publicly so that the wrestlers can see what happened, but they put it on a small screen in the booth and that doesn't give the spectators or the wrestlers a clear view of what happened."

At the moment, the VAR system is only used in the national stadium, but this could be just the start.