Erbil hosted the first Kurdistan WABBA championship on November 30.
Many sports officials from Kurdistan and presidents of WABBA in the world and European countries attended the opening ceremony of the championship.
The World Amateur Body Building Association (WABBA) is a bodybuilding organization founded in 1976 by the legendary French bodybuilder Serge Nubret.
The athletes who compete within the category Men Body aren't limited by weight. The Categories are defined by the height of the competitors except for the categories Super J24 (This category is similar to the former juniors' category except for the age limit), Super Masters and Masters, which are defined by the age of the athletes.
The ceremony was opened by Sardar Ismail, the secretary of the Kurdistan branch of WAABA. After welcoming the guests, Ismail said "Kurdistan has developed in many respects including sports. One of the sports that has reached its peak in our region is the sport of bodybuilding. Kurdistan has many bodybuilders who have gained good results at World, Arab world countries, and Asian championships,"
Ismail added, "We are happy to participate at the WABBA activities aiming to serve Kurdish sports in general and benefit bodybuilders in particular. Through this game, we hope we can increase the bodybuilding lovers and can introduce our nation with the outside world countries."
WABBA accepted Iraq as its new member in June 2012 and created chance for Iraqi athletes to take part at the in the 2012 Men's World Amateur Bodybuilding Championship for the first time in history. Sardar Ismail, Omer Faisal and Didar Khudhur, from Kurdistan represented Iraq in the June 9-11 competition held in Padua, Italy. Both of the Kurdish top bodybuilders Sardar Ismail and Omer Faisal won gold medals in their respective categories. Sardar Ismail secured first place in the Small Men Category and won a gold medal in the championship. Exhilarating the Iraqi and Kurdish people, Ismail was selected by the organizers as the overall winner of the championship.
Gerhard Neumer WABBA president, who also attended the ceremony, said "I am very happy to be here in Kurdistan. I am happy that our rules let us accept regions to become members of our association. In this moment I declare Kurdistan is officially accepted as the new member of WABBA. I would like to warmly welcome Kurdistan in to WABBA family and I also congratulate Ahmad Rambo for becoming the president of WABBA branch in Kurdistan,"
Ahmad Rambo was selected as the WABBA president in Iraq but since he became the president of Kurdistan WABBA, Neumer handed over the WABBA president of Iraq to Imad Jassim. In the ceremony also, Neumer announced the Iranian membership in to WABBA family and introduced Ameer Rabei as the president. Neumer asked the Iraqi athletes to prepare themselves to participate in the next World championship which is going to be held in Hungary.
The most delighting news for the attendees and the bodybuilders was the announcement of selecting Ahmad Rambo as the president of Asia branch of WABBA. This can be regarded as a historical achievement not only for athletes but for all the Kurdish people and Kurdistan as well.
Then the championship kicked off with the participation of over 45 athletes from ten sports clubs and halls all over Kurdistan region.
Burusk club was able to win the first place with 62 points while Ahmad Rambo Hall won the second place with 57 points. Shorija club from Kirkuk city also collected 43 points and placed third in the competition.
The participants were divided in to four categories of Small, Medium, large, and Extra Large. After identifying the winners of all the categories, all the champions were given the chance to pose for the overall winner of the championship.
"I feel very happy to become the champion of the champions. That was really a hard competition as there were many strong bodybuilders competing for the front places," said Zana Fariq, the winner of medium category and the overall winner of the championship
Fariq has been trained under the management of the international champion, Sardar Ismail, for three months preparing for the championship. He hopes he can take part in the next World Amateur Bodybuilding Championship in Hungary next year and gain a good result.
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