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Beefcake bonanza
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The first World Body Building Championship held in India evoked a fabulous response from contestants and connoisseurs alike
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Contestants at the World Amateur Body Building and Fitness Championships, India 2004
IT WAS a beefcake bonanza as some of the world's best physiques were on display at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, the venue of the World Amateur Body Building Championship on Sunday. As the contestants strutted around, struck poses and flexed their perfectly-chiselled muscles, the crowd went delirious.
Winner of Miss Fitness title, Gabriella Giarratano from Italy
Memorable meet
About 200 contestants from 25 nations made the meet a memorable one for everyone who would love to keep fit and dream of building a super physique. The Europeans, specially the Russians, are almost obsessed with the sport and a good deal of the finalists (including many in the women's section) were from Russia. The Indians had their moment of glory with Ajay Savalram Patil, the 20-year-old strapping young man from Maharashtra, walking away with the Mr. Junior World title. Vitalius Aleksandrovs of Lativia won the Mr. World 2004 title. The Italian girl, Gabriella Giarratano, took the Ms. Fitness 2004 Title, the top prize in the women's section.
Manjunath Hegde and Srikantadatta Wadiyar seen with Yana Vladimirova and Ida Gushcha of Russia and Brigita Brezovac of Slovenia
Body building sure has a big fan following in the city if one goes by the crowd at the stadium. One would not be surprised if many women take up this sport as well, inspired by the Ms. Shape and Ms. Fitness contests at the meet.
Perfect 10
The perfect 10 figures of Russian and Italian contestants sure had the men in raptures and women nodding in silent admiration. May be with little bit of envy too. "We did our best to rope in a couple of Indian contestants for the women's meet. But the trouble was, no one was willing to get on stage in public in bikinis. May be, we can find a way out. We could persuade them to come out in covered skin-tight leotards," said S. Chandramowli of the National Amateur Body Building Federation.
S. Chandramowli of the National Amateur Body Building Federation
The two-day meet had two stages. The first was a preliminary round at the Golden Health Spa on the outskirts of the city, and the second, the finals at Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, where the best remained to battle it out for the top honours.
It sure was a long evening. The meet began at 6 p.m. and went past midnight. The presence of Bollywood stars, Hrithik Roshan, who came with his father in-law Sanjay Khan, along with Fardeen Khan, and Srikantadatta Wadiyar, besides a few leading models, added a touch of glamour to the event.
Silvio Saviour of Spain who topped the professional category - Photos: Murali Kumar K. and K. Gopinathan
The grand spectacle unfolded with a laser display. A welcome break later was also provided by a fashion parade keeping the holiday crowd engrossed. The credit for bringing this premier championship to the country goes to the Manjunath Hegde Sports Foundation. It was a 12-year-old dream of Mr. Hegde and Mr. Chandramowli to host the meet in the country.
Mr. Hegde himself was a keen sportsman and he was the first from South to win the Bharath Shrest title in the 1980s.
"Mr. Hegde surely deserves the credit. We lobbied hard with the World Amateur Body Building Association (WABA) for its approval to stage the meet in the country. It wasn't easy getting it. Somehow, the Europeans had misgivings about our capacity and country in general," Mr. Chandramowli observed.
That notion has been drastically transformed with the success of the meet. "The facilities at the Golden Health Spa and Sree Kanteerva Indoor Stadium, and the hospitality lavished on the contestants and officials were truly overwhelming. The Bangalore meet has really opened our eyes. We would love to come back for more," said Fabain Debacq, WABA Chairman. High praise indeed for Mr. Hegde and Co.
KALYAN ASHOK
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Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
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Kochi
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