Sweat drips from greasy bodies criss-crossed with veins and buffed with taut muscles, on a makeshift stage nestled in a street here. As gym partners cheer for 91 bodybuilders, Santhi Nagar residents lean in doorways, perch on railings and squat on pavements, watching agape the Bahubali - Mr. Krishna District Bodybuilding Championship, 2018.
The Bodyline gym and the Golden Fitness gym in association with the Krishna Bodybuilding Association, Gudivada, organised the contest on Sunday. Participants in nine weight categories, from 50kg to 85kg in multiples of five, posed their front-double biceps, side-chest with calf muscles and front abdomen with thigh, in the first round, even as a cut-out of Arnold Schwarzenegger stared at them from a poster in the backdrop. The second round was a free posing session for 30 seconds on a Pawan Kalyan song from Thammudu . Each time the song played, a pack of skittish children broke into a wild dance amid an audience of 150 people. While winners in each category got a cash prize of ₹800, a box of protein supplement, a medal and a certificate, runners-up got ₹600, a medal and a certificate and second runners-up ₹500, a medal and a certificate. The overall winner, V. Appalaswamy Naidu, got ₹2,000 and a trophy. The Indian Physique gym, Ramavarappadu, bagged a trophy for the most number of medallists.
Amaravati sports village
Exhorting youngsters to take up bodybuilding, City Central MLA Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao, the chief guest, said, “The Chief Minister is committed to the development of a sports village in Amaravati.” APSRTC Chairman Varla Ramaiah said, “Fitness is all about making right decisions. A sportperson has no religion, no caste and no language. One’s spirit for a sport is all that matters.” SAAP Director Ravindra Babu said the authority had two targets, to ensure every student was fit and healthy and to get more medals for the State and the country.
Winners
The category-wise winners are: G. Durga Satyanarayana (50kg), P. Raja (55kg), Y. Lashamikanth (60kg), N. Ganesh (65kg), V. Appalaswamy Naidu (70kg), G. Gopalakrishna (75kg), B. Maniprakash (80kg), B. Surendra (85kg) and R. Narendra Nadh.
