SFBF to relaunch the National Bodybuilding Championship Contest
The Singapore Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness (SFBF) will launch a National Bodybuilding competition called “The IFBB Singapore Nationals” on 13 May 2018.
This competition will relaunch the national bodybuilding championships that were once the pride of Singaporeans in the 90s. It was in the 90s that Singaporeans saw the likes of Augustine Lee and Azman Abdullah two famous local bodybuilding champions that led the charge for Singapore to be on the official bodybuilding World Map. They brought fame and glory to the nation and the sport.
During the 90s, we saw the Singaporean bodybuilding craze that lasted for over a decade. However, the momentum fizzed out due to various issues including industry infighting and other problems. The new SFBF headed by Alex Betts (SFBF President) and Nur Fauzi (SFBF Vice-President) intends to bring the “glory days” back to the industry.
“The industry has suffered from poor image and lacklustre public response for years now and we intend to change all that,” said Alex. He continued to add: “I am making sure that the championships will be in the true vein of the sport and that all judging and rules will follow the international standards set by the IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness)”.
The one-day event will have athletes from both National and International levels participating in the championships. It is intentional and necessary for us to inject the flavour and essence of international competition to the local scene to show local athletes the immense potential that they can achieve with hard work. Whether it is a local athlete or an international one we will assure everyone that they are the STARS of this sport for the day.
“The Nationals is a show where the SFBF will unveil its mission to support the local athletes and grow the sport the right way and to eventually put Singapore back on the International Bodybuilding scene once again,” said Excell Chua, the Secretary-general of SFBF.
The SFBF is aware of the negative image that has tarnished the sport over the last few years and are working with its international body to revive the image and to make a firm comeback in the local and regional scene.
We think the time is right for a comeback of the sport as we see more and more people coming on back to bodybuilding. There is an increase in people of all ages showing interest in this sport and not knowing how to progress. The SFBF feels that we can lead this new group of athletes and groom them into potential international stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno (The incredible Hulk), or Steve Reeves (Hercules) stars from the IFBB stable.
The Singapore Nationals 2018 will be the launching pad for many local “stars” as well as regional and international athletes. This we hope will be the first of several events that will take place in 2018- 2019 calendar.