Disruption mars Saturday grand wrestling event -as prominent Senegalese promoter fails to show up

By Sulayman Bah Saturday’s grand combat was the scene of chaos and disorder at the Independence Stadium. Staged by Gambia-based promotion brand M and B Promotion headed by Matarr Sosseh and Burr Touray, Saturday’s wrestling occasion, touted as one of the biggest and featuring an array of mouth-watering clashes, was disrupted. The grand combat fielding Viper and Ernes failed to hold to the dismay of an impressive fan turn out at the Bakau stadium. The combat before the bigger one featuring prominent Kunta Kinteh suffered an almost similar fate with disagreement ensuing amongst club representatives over refereeing decision. Ernes was halted at the gate and barred from wrestling with officials purportedly from the Gambia Wrestling Federation insisting the wrestler and his manager have not honoured contractual terms. The situation provoked fury from fans who started apportioning blame on M and B promotion for poor organization and alleged incompetence on the part of GWF. M and B has been inaccessible for comment on the night of the furore but when reached yesterday Burr Sosseh, an official of the promotion brand, expressed dissatisfaction regarding the incident. “Our purpose of organizing the combats is to ensure the development of wrestling in the country. We could have utilized the money spent in the organization on other things but we chose to invest to give motivation. The Federation could have done better; they really could have stepped in. I have nothing to say but a big THANKS to all those who contributed to the occasion, including the fans. We at M and B are here to stay and to push for the development of the sport,” Sosseh told Foroyaa Sport yesterday. GWF spokesperson Matarr Saine preferred not to comment and instead promised to hold a press conference to iron out the issue with stakeholders this Wednesday. Meanwhile, Senegalese prominent wrestling promoter Gaston Mbengue, named after the grand combat, did not show up and instead sent in a delegation to deputise him. Elsewhere in another development, Lekett Bu Barra routed Jokardo but details of that thrilling counter and photos would be featured in our subsequent edition.        ]]>