BAHRAIN's national bodybuilding team arrived in Qatar yesterday for the 63rd World Amateur Championship which is set for tonight at the Sheraton Hotel in Doha.
Three of Bahrain's top bodybuilders were named to represent the kingdom at this prestigious competition, to be organised for the 63rd consecutive year and features nine different weight categories.
Veteran bodybuilder Sami Al Haddad is leading Bahrain's hopefuls in the event, during which more than 600 bodybuilders, representing 77 countries of the world's best are in the fray.
Al Haddad will compete in the 90kg division while the remaining two to spearhead Bahrain are Hussain Jassim and Arafat Yaqoob who will take part in the 75kg and 80kg events, respectively.
Jassim will be looking to defend his title in the same weight category which he won in the previous edition cup held at the Bahrain Internatinoal Exhibition Centre last year.
On arrival, the three Bahrainis underwent weigh-in inspection as they were accompanied by Bahrain Weightlifting and Bodybuilding Association president Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid Al Khalifa.
Shaikh Abdulla, who is also president of the Asian Bodybuilding Federation, was recently named new International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) vice-president.
The weigh-in procedure was followed by the pre-judging which was conducted by a group of the world's most experienced judges who came from different countries. In the pre-judging, the best five bodybuilders in each weight category qualified for today's final show, which gets underway at 3pm.
After today's main show, the Bahrain team are due to return home at 3.30pm on Thursday in a Gulf Air jet.
Bahrain will also participate in the World Masters Championship, to be held in Bialystok, Poland from November 13 to 16. The tournament consists of junior and senior sections for men and women, starting from 70kg weight category.
The Bahraini team in this event will also feature three members, including Jassim who is due to take part in the same 75kg weight section.
The other bodybuilders are Abdulwahed Al Asfoor, to compete in the 80kgs and Hassan Saleh in the +100kg heavy weight event.
