Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Big prize for big men

A traditional sport saw impressive sponsors and grand prizes at two national-level competitions in the city

MUSCLE POWER The winner took home a Maruti Omni

Team India's Men in Blue are never short of endorsements, awards, sponsorships and grand prizes when they manage a big win. But the economics of cricket apply to no other sport in India. So it is rather heartening when a few ardent sports fans sit up and take notice of a traditional sport like body-building and sponsor some sizeable prizes. The coastal city recently played host to two major national level sporting championships — the Federation Cup Body Building Championship and the 53rd National Amateur Body Building Championships. The prizes offered to the final winner of both these events were a historic first for these events.

While Bijit Gogoi of Assam, winner of the Mr. India 2006 title at the Federation Cup, took home a brand new Maruti Omni , Sujay Sharad Ghar of Maharashtra, who was adjudged Bharat Shree at the National Amateur Body Building championships, got to take home a microwave oven.

B. Madhav Poojari, President of the Indian Body Building Federation, says a move by Delhi-based Nice Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to sponsor a car for the winner of the Federation Cup is a giant step for the sport of bodybuilding. "While we have had companies sponsoring the event in the past, it is for the first time that a Mr. India has actually laid his hands on a prize this big," he says.

Premchand Degra, former Mr. World and nine-time national champion and brand ambassador for NICE, says sponsors should promote all sports alike. "Cricket is a religion in India and brings in money. A little encouragement to other sportspersons will also spur them to give their best and bring laurels for the country," he notes.

For Kishan Kumar, convener of the National Amateur Body Building Championships, the ability of the organisers to rope in local sponsors and pool in prize money of nearly Rs. 2.5 lakh is indeed a significant stride in the history of the game. A former Bharat Shree himself, Kumar says: "In our times, we used to get a medal and a certificate for our efforts."

Admitting that the final prize money given to the winner is a mere token for the pains taken by the amateur body builders, Kumar also points to the other problem: "It hardly covers even their basic costs." While pride is more at stake in an amateur sport and joy of winning greater, a small purse and gift hampers to the participants is something they cherish for a long time to come, Kumar reasons.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail