Showcasing sinew

Well-endowed body glistening, rippling muscles on display, 20-year-old Rushad Khambatta won the title of Mr Zoroastrian at the 4th All India Zoroastrian Body Building Championship organized by the Sir Ness Wadia Club at Rustom Baug. Lifting the Prof Tehmurasp Sarkari trophy donated by Viraf Chiniwala for the best poser was 24-year-old Kaivan Panthaki.

Khambatta, who trains at Bombay’s Health Beyond Fitness gym, was also adjudged first in the heaviest 75+ kg weight category, followed by Shahzad Daver (Inch by Inch The Body Temple) and Ruzbey Afkhan (Cusrow Baug) second and third respectively. In the 65-75 kg group, Aresh Mehershahi (Health Beyond Fitness), Neville Bodhanwala (Malcolm Baug) and Yezdi Panthaki (Godrej Baug) were the winners; while in the 65 kg group, Kaivan Panthaki (Cusrow Baug), Chirag Madan (Poona) and Sherzad Dastur (Bombay) took the first three spots.

Sponsored by philanthropist NarYman Dubash, the contest features as an annual event in the Club’s sporting calendar. With 18 participants this year from Bombay, Poona, Surat and London, an elimination round was held on February 11, 2005, followed by the finals the next day.

With a body builder’s shapely muscles, taut veins, bulging arms and thighs developing not with ordinary exercise or diet but with a series of methodical exercises in a gymnasium complemented by a regimen of food and supplements, Kham­batta expresses his appre­cia­tion for the help received by him from health and fitness guru Mickey Mehta: "He has sponsored me, given me health tips, encouraged more free hand exercises and assisted me greatly by good advice.” Working as a trainer at Mehta’s Health Beyond Fitness, Khambatta has been doing body building from the age of 17. "My dad Minoo was a good boxer, an all India champion,” he declares. Blessed, he be­lieves, with a good body frame and structure, Khambatta hopes to enter for the Mr Bombay body building competition next year. Cham­pion body builder Byju Gopinath has also helped him, says Khambatta who terms the competition at Rustom Baug "very tough.”

Originally from Surat, now residing in Bombay, Kaivan Pantha­ki’s father Dara was a wrestler, his uncle Viraf Panthaki has a long and fruitful association with weightlifting, body building and power lifting. "When I was younger, I used to watch my brothers and cou­sins go to the gym and I took to it as well,” states 24-year-old Kaivan. A mobed by profession Panthaki works on a regular basis at the Dadysett Agiary at Fort. He is also a fitness consultant at Inch by Inch The Body Temple gym at Marine Drive, training clients. He himself works out at the Cusrow Baug gym which is, he says, one of the nicest places for hardcore body building, being extremely well-ventilated.

Fit as a fiddle at 69, Adi Patel entertained the goodly crowd at the competition with a series of exercises — head balancing on a teapoy, hanging upside down, somersaulting on Roman rings... "I can do 101 frog jumps in 55 seconds,” says the man for whom fitness began as a schoolboy in the 1950s at Surat’s Parsi Orphanage where exercise was an integral part of the school curriculum. "Keki Vaid was my guru and physical instructor,” he says. Patel exercises at the Pestonji Dossabhoy Marker Physical Culture Home at Dockyard where he is one of the seniormost members. Retiring from the State Bank of India in 1996, after 39 years of service, Patel pays keen attention to his diet which consists mainly of vegetables, he says, with an avoidance of red meat.

Showcasing his strength also at the competition was Farokh Tatary, making a comeback to performing before an audience (see "Muscle man,” page 30). Sparking spectator interest were the body builders of Kerala. "These gentle giants displayed their muscles to the music of Vande Mataram and were so good,” enthuses Hutoxi Doodhwala who was part of the organizing committee under the leadership of Dr Porus Turner, along with Rustom Jasoo­money and Aash­din Billi­moria. Viraf Panthaki and Mic­key Meh­ta assisted in various ways.

The 1st All India Zoroastrian Powerlifting Championship (bench press only) was held on February 6, 2005 "at short notice, by popu­lar demand,” says Doodhwala, with Kaivan Panthaki emerging the over­all winner, according to the Bob Hoffman formula from among 25 contestants. In the upto 75 kg group K. Panthaki, Chirag Madan and Rushad Kapadia emerged as winners; Kaizad Irani, Neville Chithhiwala and Shahzad Daver excelled in the 75-85 kg slot and in the 85+ kg category Darius Dadrawala, Zubin Bamji and Percy Bahmani were victorious. In the veterans category, Fili Mara­wala stood first, followed by Zarir Khandadia and Jas­o­omoney.