Senegalese Wrestling

As on most weekends in Dakar, today there was a wrestling match. Having missed the service at the Keur Moussa Monastery outside the city we decided to go to the match. This, I thought, would make up for not experiencing the African music with Gregorian chanting in Wolof.

Here is what happened in pictures:

We enter. It's 4pm. The drummers are already going near the goal post in the arena. Shortly after we are seated a group of ladies shows up and makes itself comfortable in white plastic chairs.
The rink is empty. White sandbags mark the perimeter. The ladies near the goal post start chanting into a mic. A small crowd hangs out in the sun waiting.
One by one the wrestlers arrive in the far corner of the arena. They each kneel in the sand at the doorway and, I'm guessing here, pray before entering.
Then they make their way into the sandbox and kneel down. Their team hangs out while they pray to not have their ass kicked during the match. A sheet is pulled over each player while he rubs sand into his nether-regions (I'm guessing this is what happens under the sheet. Why else cover up?)
Some wrestlers walk along the perimeter of the rink and kneel in each corner or throw something or rub sand on them or put their hands to their head. Whatever floats your boat. We begin to notice that there are a lot of wrestlers showing up.
At around 6pm they line up to find out the order of their matches. Meanwhile more wrestlers arrive and go through their routine of entering the arena and rink. The bleechers begin to fill up.
A troupe of well dressed ladies shows up. Among them is a very important man. I know this because he has printed a banner of himself and hired two people to carry it around the arena behind his posse. They are seated at the front, near the action. The music is still blarring.
The wrestlers don't stop moving. They walk continuously along the edge of the rink, some dance, some run, most walk.
The official dancers begin.
Four hours of waiting later the wrestling begins.
No one seems to care about the sport though.
Everyone is watching the dancing. When they are done their routine some of the well dressed ladies from the privileged seats at the front get up and dance.
Three matches at a time happen. The first few rounds last less than five minutes. Eliminations are quick.
Finally, the cameras turn on the wrestlers. We leave. At midnight we catch a glimpse of the match on TV. It's live.