For Mohammed Anwar, the lone body builder from Telangana who will be representing India in the Asian championship in Seoul (August 20-26) and the World championship in Mongolia (October), it has been a journey dotted with struggles which could have deterred even the most lion-hearted competitors.
But, he braved them all, the most difficult of the challenges being to take care of his bed-ridden father (with a paralysis stroke) for the last three months and realise this goal of making it to the Indian team.
Federation is broke
And, not surprisingly, with little support from the authorities concerned, Anwar has to be on his own like the other members of the Indian team as even the Federation has no money to sponsor the trip.
So, thanks to the efforts of former ‘Mr. World’ Mohtesham Ali, who is also the Indian bodybuilding coach, Ashwani Kumar (father of child prodigy Naina Jaiswal), Anwar is now ready for the Asian meet which he feels should be a decisive phase of his career.
“A win in Asian championship should change the course of my career,” believes the 32-year South Central Railway Class IV employee and former national champion.
Expensive sport
It is one of the most expensive sports as for instance Anwar needs 50 eggs, two kg of chicken and 15 glasses of fruit juice every day to chisel his body to meet the demands of international competitions.
“It is a pity that our request with the State Government to set up a bodybuilding academy in Hyderabad is pending for long. But, we are not disheartened and I will continue to help anyone from Telangana aiming to achieve big at the highest level,” insists Mohtesham.
For his part, coach Santosh is quite naturally pleased with the way his ward has responded to the challenges of the sport despite facing acute hardship on financial front. “I am glad he accepted this challenge and is now one of the nine-member Indian team from 200 who participated in the Meerut national-level selection championship recently,” he said.