 | |
| Focus | Striking |
|---|---|
| Country of origin |  Nigeria |
| Olympic sport | No |
| Martial art | Yes |
Dambe is a martial art of the Hausa people from Nigeria.[1] Competitors in a typical match aim to subdue each other into total submission mostly within three rounds. It often results in serious bodily injury. Boxers are called by the Hausa word "daæmaænga".[2]
The tradition is dominated by Hausa fisherman and butcher caste groups,[3] and over the 20th century evolved from clans of these professions traveling to farm villages at harvest time, integrating a fighting challenge by the outsiders into local harvest festival entertainment. It was also traditionally practiced as a way for men to get ready for war, and many of the techniques and terminology allude to warfare. Today, companies of boxers travel performing outdoor matches accompanied by ceremony and drumming, throughout the traditional Hausa homelands of northern Nigeria, southern Niger and southwestern Chad.
The sport has received mainstream attention from Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development as its minister, Sunday Dare pledged in December 2019 to create a national league plus cooperating with the Dambe Sport Association to form a federation for organizing competitions and tournaments across and outside Nigeria,[4] plans were already underway before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country early 2020.[3]
- ^ Iyorah, Festus (June 18, 2018). "Dambe: How an ancientian boxing swept the internet". Al Jazeera. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
- ^ Bole/English wordlist:ucla.edu
UCLA Hausa teaching resources: hausarbaka. - ^ a b Mafua, Juliet (April 12, 2020). "Dambe: The Nigerian combatpirations".
- ^ AbdulAzeez Bello (December 11, 2019). "Sports ministry to create national league for dambe". Daily Trust. Archived from the original on 2021-06-10. Retrieved June 10, 2021.