Pestaraga to foster young bodybuilders

JAKARTA (JP): Pestaraga, the 2000 annual national body building championships is expected to foster young talent for future development of the sport.

National bodybuilder Ade Rai told a press conference on Thursday that the championships -- jointly sponsored by Fitness Station and Universal -- also will be used for national athletes to warm up prior to the 15th National Games (PON) in Surabaya in June.

The championships will be staged at the Graha Bhakti Budaya in the Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) complex on April 16. More than 150 bodybuilders, mostly beginners, are expected to take part.

"In the championships, young athletes have a chance to win over their seniors as a part of the grooming process. Many of the winners in the 1998 championships have become provincial stalwarts for the upcoming PON," said Ade, who is also the Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding Association (PABBSI) official in charge of bodybuilding.

"Before 1997, there was a domination by senior athletes in the championship. Bodybuilding is a subjective sport. We are trying to avoid subjectivity in the championships by announcing each jurors' score on the board," he said.

For the first time in national bodybuilding history, the event is sponsored by private sector and will be broadcast by ANteve on April 23 for 30 minutes.

"Bodybuilding has yet to attract sports lovers. By airing on television, I hope people all over the country will understand the sport and will love it."

Ade said that many people practice bodybuilding in fitness centers but only 5 percent of them seriously intended to become bodybuilders.

"That shows that bodybuilding has the potential to be an interesting and attractive sport in this country, but it is less popular than other sports."

Fitness Station event and promotion manager, Frans Sutikman, said that he wanted to sponsor the event because of Ade's enthusiasm to develop bodybuilding here and make it more popular.

Pestaraga will be divided in two categories; beginners -- which will feature classes of 55 kgs, 60 kgs, 65 kgs, 70 kgs, 75 kgs and 75+kgs -- and open class.

Winners of each beginners class will receive Rp 300.000 (US$40) cash prize while the winner in the open class will pocket Rp 1 million.

Registration will take place on April 15 at TIM followed by a technical meeting and weigh-in. (yan)