Rs 50 lakh prize fund at stake for 11th Mr India C’ships
Mumbai, February 15: Over 600 bodybuilders from 43 units affiliated with the Indian Body Builders Federation (IBBF) will showcase their fine toned bodies during the 11th Mr. India Senior Men’s and Women’s Body Building & 6th Men’s and Women’s Physique Sports National Championship, scheduled to be held cat the Shri Shiv Chatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune from March 23 to 25, 2018.
Athletes from the Government Sports Control Boards like the Indian Railways Sports Promotion Board, Services Sports Control Board, Central Civil Services, Cultural and Sports Board, Ordnance Factory Sports Promotion Board, Major Port Sports Control Board and Dena Bank Sports Control Board along with participants from the various states will be vying for the top honours and a slice of the whopping prize money fund of over Rs 50 lakhs, a figure unprecedented in the history of Body Building and Physique Sports, in India.
This was announced by Chetan Pathare, General Secretary IBBF in the presence of Madhukar Talwalkar, the Executive Vice-President of IBBF & President of the Maharashtra Body Building Association and Vikram Rothe, Secretary of the Maharashtra Body Building Association, at a press conference on Thursday. Premchand Degra, Mr. Universe (Padamshree and Arjuna Awardee) is the President of the IBBF.
The Senior Men’s Body Building championship will see competition in 10 weight groups, from which the champion of champions will emerge and take home the coveted title of Mr. India, along with a cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakhs. The 1st runner-up will be richer by Rs 3.5 lakhs, while the 2nd runner-up will be awarded Rs 1.5 lakhs.
There will be cash prizes for each category, with the winners taking home Rs 1 lakh, followed by 70,000 and 50,000 for the 1st and 2nd runners-up respectively and the fourth and fifth placed athletes winning Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively.
The Senior Women’s Body Building Championship will have one Open Category, the same also holding true for the Men’s and Women’s Physique Sports Championships. The winners in these championships will also be eligible for the category prize money mentioned above, besides the prestigious titles at stake.
Body Builders from Maharashtra will lay a strong claim for the top honours , led by the flag bearer of the sport and two-time overall champion Sunit Jadhav. The defending champion, who won Mr. India titles in Roha (2016) and Gurugram (2017,) will have for company fellow body builders from the state like Nitin Mhatre, Sagar Katurde, Akshay Mogarkar and Mahendra Chavan, all strong contenders.
Indian Railways will also be fielding a strong contingent, among them accomplished athletes like Javed Ali Khan, Ram Niwas, Bhaskaran, Kiran Patil, Sagar Jadhav and Pritam Choughule while T H Dayanand will pose a strong challenge representing Services. Other prominent names include Pritam Singh and Ram Tudu of CRPF, besides leading body builders from various states.
The leading athletes in the Senior Women’s Body Building will include names like Kanchi Advani (Maharashtra), Sarita Devi & Rebita Devi (Manipur), Europa Bhowmik (WB) and Mamota Devi (Delhi).
The athletes to look out for in the Physique Sports for Men will be Sunny Roy & Sumit Banerjee (WB) and Kiran Sathe and Nilesh Bomble (Maharashtra). The Model Physique competition for Women is expected to throw up a tough fight between Sonali Swamy & Ankita Singh (Karnataka), Sanju (UP). Special participation of Nishrin Parikh (Maharashtra) at the age of 51 years is going to be remarkable.
The athletes and officials will be hosted in five star comfort at Hotel Orchid, with special emphasis being laid on their dietary needs and comfort for the duration of the competition. Every athlete will be given sports kits and participation certificates, and the winners will be awarded specially designed trophies and medals.
Organised by the Indian Body Builders Federation, the 11th Mr. India Championships will be powered by Optimum Nutrition, with Viva Fitness, being the Equipment Partner, Talwalkars being the Fitness Partner, Avvatar Sports Nutrition being the Nutritional Partner, Divya Drishti International as the Event Partner and Firstfitt being the Gym Partner, in association with Animal Booster, SAF Fitness and MENCON, as other sponsors.
Photo Caption:
Photo 1: Viram Rothe, Gen Secretary, MBBA, Mr Madhukar Talwalkar, President MBBA, Mr Chetan Pathare, Gen Secretary, IBBF and Ms Shewta Rathore, International physique athlete unveiling the specially made medals and trophy at the press conference of the11th Mr. India Senior Men’s and Women’s Body Building & 6th Men’s and Women’s Physique Sports National Championshi
Photo 2: Top Male Bodybuilders and Female physique athletes pose with Shweta Rathore (Center), International physique athlete at the press conference of the11th Mr. India Senior Men’s and Women’s Body Building & 6th Men’s and Women’s Physique Sports National Championship