Fasting players retain appetite for sport

DAKAR: After 11 hours without food or water in the sapping 30c heat of the African sun, hard exercise is not everyone's idea of fun.

For young Senegalese footballers, however, the Ramadan fast is no excuse for missing a match, even as many fellow Muslims are left so weakened by hunger and thirst that they doze in what shade there is, or retreat indoors to sleep.

The devoted squad of ASC Karack, a team of students in the capital Dakar, trained as normal on a weekday afternoon in the middle of Ramadan, sweat dripping as they played a full-pace practice match against a team from the police academy.