Wee (fourth left) and SBBA committee members handing over the state colours to Malvern (fourth right) and Buda (sixth right) at Plaza Merdeka yesterday.
KUCHING: After a long wait of 50 years, Sarawak will finally see two of her own body-builders vie for the Mr World Championship.
The Malaysia Body Builders Association (MBBA) have selected Dr Malvern Abdullah and Buda Anchah together with four others including one woman from the peninsula for this year’s championship to be held in Mumbai, India from Dec 5-9.
“This is a major milestone for us at the Sarawak Body Building Association (SBBA) as the state have always been on the forefront of body-building competitions at the national and international level,” SBBA president Dato Wee Hong Seng told reporters during the handing of the state colours to the duo at Plaza Merdeka yesterday.
2014 has been an exceptional year for the sport in Sarawak. The state bagged the overall title at the Mr. Malaysia Championship 2014 after winning four gold medals from ten categories in June.
Malvern won the ‘Champion of Champions’ and ‘Best Poser’ titles in addition to his gold medal in the light-weight (65.1 to 70kg) category.
This year, Wee reported, SBBA have participated in no less than 15 major events. They will wrap up their 2014 calendar by sending eight athletes for the Mr. Borneo championship to be held in Kota Belud, Sabah.
Meanwhile, Wee revealed that SBBA have identified four promising body-builders to be groomed for the 2015 Sukma.
“It would take at least a year or more to train and prepare these athletes to take over the roles from the old guns who are already above 21 years old,” said Wee, who is also MBBA vice president .
“This is an unavoidable transitional period which must be done to ensure the state’s dominance in the sport of body building,” he added.
On another note, Wee conveyed his advice to organisers using the SBBA logo or appointing any of their judges to apply for approval.
SBBA will then convene a board meeting to ensure that all the participants are properly scanned and fair judging from appointed judges. The consent letter to the organisers will be released after the meeting.
This procedure, Wee explained, will help ensure the good image of the association and avoid any form of controversy arising from an event.