Senegal wrestling star throws in loincloth after 24 years

I'M DONE: This file photo taken on Jan. 2, 2006 shows Senegalese wrestler Yakhya Diop (130kgs), aka "Yekini", wearing a picture of his spiritual guide on his chest at the Leopold Sedar Senghor stadium in Dakar. Senegalese media paid tribute on Tuesday to Yakhya Diop who ended his 24-year-long career. (AFP)

DAKAR: Senegal paid tribute Tuesday to retiring wrestling champion Yakhya “Yekini” Diop, celebrating a quarter-century of mesmerising bouts that saw his sport shift from village amateurs to big-money stars grappling in sold-out stadiums.
Yekini’s exceptionally long career and unbeaten record from 1997 to 2012 made him the face of Senegal’s national sport.
The much-loved 42-year-old star was finally beaten by rival Lac de Guiers 2 on July 24 after a long absence from competition.
“Yekini throws in the loincloth” proclaimed the front page of several Senegalese newspapers on Tuesday, while a more sober take from l’Obs daily read: “The curtain falls on Yekini.”
The most popular form of wrestling in Senegal unusually allows punches to an opponent’s head, and is known for the elaborate rituals undertaken by players in which they are splashed with potions containing animal extracts and perform dances.
In recent years, sponsorship and televised bouts have turned the sport into a multi-million-dollar industry, according to experts.
Yekini, 42, told gathered press on Monday night that his recent defeat — one of two in his entire career — was not the reason for his retirement.
“There would only have been me in the arena,” during his 15-year dominance of the sport if that was every wrestler’s attitude, he joked.
He took his name from 1990s Nigerian football star Rashidi Yekini, known for his powerful attack.
Drawn from the Serer people who have produced champion after champion in Senegalese wrestling, Yakini hails from the coastal Saloum region and was named the best wrestler in 50 years in 2010 by the media.
“I am sure the next champion that the Serers produce will be even stronger than me,” he told journalists on Monday in a tribute to his origins.
“I’ve lived through the changes in the Senegalese arenas: how prize money has gone up, how our status has changed, and the birth of new champions,” he added, calling on today’s young players to take the professionalization of the sport even further.
Yakini will join the crowds on the other side of the barriers as a wrestling promoter, he said.