Date:16/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/16/stories/2008111659370200.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

AP body builder for world meet

Staff Reporter

To compete in World Body Building Championship in USA

-PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

All set: Mir Mohtesham Ali.

HYDERABAD: Mir Mohtesham Ali, a body builder from the twin cities, will be leading the Indian body building team, slated to compete for top honours in the World Body Building Championship at Las Vegas, Nevada between November 21 and 23, 2008.

These days, apart from training hard for the championship, Mr. Mohtesham is busy searching for sponsors to the trip.

The Indian Body Building Federation (IBBF), which has selected the team of eight body builders, has asked the body builders to arrange funds worth Rs. 2.75 lakh each to meet expenses in the championship. Mr. Mohtesham is also the only body builder from South India to be selected for the championship. “The championship would be tough because over 200 body builders from 26 countries would participate. Yet, we will give our best,” he said here on Saturday in a press conference. The body builder’s daily intake of calories to maintain the physique is astonishing. On a daily basis, he consumes a kilogram of chicken, 30 boiled eggs, 12 oranges, a cup of sweet corn, 150 grams of oat meal, 200 grams of green salad and four glasses of sweet lime (Mosambi) juice.

“Unlike other sports, body building is very tough and needs lot of will power and scientific based weight training. Unfortunately, in India, this sport is not getting the much encouragement from authorities,” the 33-year-old father of two girls, laments. It was in 1988 that Premchand Degra bagged the coveted Mr. Universe title for India. “After that, till now no one has managed to win the title. Training methods of foreign body builders is far superior to us because unlike India, body building is a popular Western sport,” he says. Mohtesham, who idolises Arnold Schwarzenegger, would be leaving for the competition on November 18.