Niwas, Jadhav to lead Indian field for Asian C’ships in Pune

Ram Niwas of Railways and Sunit Jadhav of Maharashtra, winner and runner-up of the Mr. India Bodybuilding Championship, will compete against the best athletes from Asia at the 52nd Asian Body Building and Physique Sports Championship in Pune from Friday.

The Championships will be organised under the auspices of the Asian Bodybuilding & Physique Sports Federation (ABBF)  at the Shri Shiv Chatrapati Sports Complex, Mhalunge, Balewadi, Pune and a total of 51 events across all categories will be conducted for men and women over the course of seven days.

“Bodybuilding as a sport is growing rapidly in India and by hosting the Asian Championships, which is one of the biggest Bodybuilding events to be held in the country, we are sure that it will go a long way in popularising the sport among the masses," said, Chetan Pathare, General Secretary, Indian Body Builders federation.  

The other notable athletes representing India, who were selected at the trails held in Raipur, include Sagar Katurde (Maharashtra), Akshay Mogarkar (Maharashtra), Mahendra Chavan (Maharashtra), Kiran Patil (Railways), Bobby Singh (Railways) & Senthil Kumar (Railways), to name a few.

The leading athletes from India in the Senior Women’s Body Building will include names like Sarita Devi and Rebita Devi (Manipur), and Mamota Devi (Delhi). The athletes to look out for in the Physique Sports for men will be Sunny Roy, and Nilesh Bomble (Maharashtra). The Model Physique competition for Women is expected to throw up a tough fight between Ankita Singh (Karnataka) and Sanju (UP). Special participation of Nishrin Parikh (Maharashtra) at the age of 52 years will add weight to the Indian contingent.