The BBFM demonstrated administrative disaster in Mr. Maldives 2008

Thumbs up to Munko and Co of Atoll Entertainment who was the event organizer. It was a smooth ly organized event.

This event has been a huge success at the start (1999) and the sport was on top gear until 2002. The administrations have failed to concentrate on promoting the sport since 2002, and the down fall cannot be stopped until we find a responsible and mature administration for the BBFM.

The governing body failed to abide by the rules and regulations of judging:

Article 13.8 of IFBB Rules for Bodybuilding, Fitness and Body Fitness clearly states that at no time the number of judges should be fewer than 5. At the time of the competition there were four judges on the judging panel. After the competition athletes confirmed that the governing body mentioned “judging was conducted by 3 on the panel”. The governing body has not released any official statement with regard to this issue. Still with the four judges on the panel the credibility of the decision are questionable.

Acceptance of the fact by the governing body that the panel was not constructed as per the standard set by the rules of the game gave the athletes questions on the credibility of the decisions.

The final decision!

Mr. Mahmood Ziyad of Maldives National Defense Force was awarded Mr. Maldives, the judgment was made by the few judges on the panel without calling all three contenders for the title on the stage. It took me on surprise that all the contenders for the title were not called on stage for a comparison.

Clearly the first choice for the title was Ziyad, he was in better shape than any other competitor, but does this give the bodybuilding fans and the competing athletes a fair treatment. It’s understood that the decision should be made after calling all participant on stage and a comparison from the judges as the show is solely focused on the title holder, I believe that’s the reason why this event is called Mr. Maldives if not it could have been named Maldives National Bodybuilding Championship.

At the end of the show while leaving the hall a lot of former athletes team mangers questioned me “how the judging was conducted without three of the contenders compared?” I replied I don’t know if the laws of the game have changed or not, I have to check on it. Still supported saying it was deserved win for Ziyad.

Mega Cash Prize.

The governing body has come up with awarding mega cash prize for the future events, will giving away huge sum of cash produce great bodybuilders in this country. Absolutely No.

Looking in to the history of 10 years the governing body has not implemented a proper development program to promote the sport. Technically all the questions about development went into bottom line saying lack of finances.

Do we need a lot of finances do go and conduct seminars in the secondary schools about weight training? Do we need a lot of finances to demo the students the simple basics of weight training? Have we tried to communicate with the school sports supervisors about making the youth aware what weight training is? Development needs a plan and to use the experienced past athletes add few hours promoting the sport.

No matter how big the cash money is it’s difficult to fill up the competition floor with new comers without a development plan to make the sport popular.

Sit back and think about this sport with a passion for it …

How long will Afrah, Nihad Rasheed, Mohamed Ibrahim, Mahmood Ziyad, Abdul Haseeb, Yoonus Rasheed and Co compete as these competitors have been competing since 1999. Even now some big names in the sport like Body Ala, Imad, Alsamath, Mifthah have retired and there aren’t positive replacements of them.

Who’s Who?

The Ministry of Youth and Sports has announced that all the associations have to go through it’s a formal election process. I believe the question should be raised on Bodybuilding Federation as well. A diverse range of people from different organizations are pumping in money to develop their athletes for this sport. Organizations like Maldives Police Service, Maldives National Defense Force, Muscle Load, Male’ Fitness Club and a private company called Lumber Private Ltd did send athletes to this year’s competition.

The association needs to justify the policies of being a member, need to conduct formality and elect a group of people from all these areas that are at the moment spending on the athletes to further this sport in the country.

I think it’s high time we think about the future of bodybuilding … BBFM should call upon to seek members, have a congress involving members to pass the constitution, formalize all the basic of running the organization. Without a proper foundation growth will always be in question!

“In sport, there are no limitations, no barriers of race, religion, politics or culture. In sport, we are in touch with each other” Bodybuilding is important for nation building. Ben Weider, O.C., C.St.J, C.Q., Ph.D., Founder & Honorary Life President IFBB

CONGRATULATIONS MALDIVIAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM

Marahaba Marahaba Gaumee Teemah Marhabaa!! Beat India and Copy INDIA … We can be much better than this!!! Let us be original. After few years maybe an Indian news paper will say that Maldivians learnt to celebrate copying their ways.

Best wishes and congratulations to the Maldives National Team, you have proved to be the king of football in the South Asia.

It was a dramatic game of football where the national side of Maldives made history is Sugathadasa Stadium, both sides fought till the last minute to be crowned as the South Asian Champions.

When our team proved that we are the best in the region with Mukhtars thunderbolt at the dying minutes of the second half it was time for a nationwide celebration, and also different people looked into the win at different angles. Some claiming their hard work for football development in Maldives.

It is a well-known fact that the Maldivians learnt their soccer from Sri Lankans. There have been many reputed Sri Lanka coaches who later moved on to Male to coach Maldives. Those hard efforts and humble beginnings are now paying dividends. People who learnt their ‘a’ and ‘b’ in soccer alphabet are now giving us a dose of our own medicine. “19^th June 2008, Daily News Sri Lanka”

Well it is understood that we had Sri Lankan Coaches and players in the local top club. that doesn’t give the Sri Lankans the right to claim that we learnt our “a” and “b” of football from them. The people of Maldive had worked hard.

Neither the football governing body nor the sports governing body is entitled to claim that it’s only their hard work, it’s also the work done by the people of Maldives. Ask this question “How many of these players has become a top level footballer being in a proper youth development program?. Almost all of the players on this team came from different atolls; the atoll community should be praised for developing these talent. Looking into the facilities available in atolls developing players like ARIF, ISMAIL, IMRAN, MUKHTAR, THORIQ and SAEED is almost an impossible task. And the island community should be proud of this.

At this point we need to raise serious questions to the football governing body if we are to defend the title in the coming years. We need a future infrastructure for youth development concentrating on all atolls if we are to tap talent and to keep this title back in Maldives.

We need the governing body to build up a structure where the top teams in the first division and leading teams in the atoll community should have their football training academy for youngsters, we need the governing body to arrange youth tournament on a bigger scale where the teams represents their junior under 14, 16, 18 and see our youth climbing the ladder to represent the country on an international level.

It is understood that FAM is undergoing a remodeling phase where a new elected chairman and an executive committee will be elected shortly. I believe that largest association in the country need a committed person who is willing to explore and develop football in a larger scale nationwide, who have a passion for the beautiful game. If the expectations are unmatched it will break the hearts of thousands and thousands of fans within this small nation.

It’s time we need to think on a positive attitude to develop talent for future, I am convinced that if a proper development plan is not produced we might have to dream or even wait 17 more years to bring back this title home.

Now that we are the kings of South Asia we need to think on a bigger scale for the future, as a football fan I would want to see Maldives playing in the Asian Championships. We need the rich to spend on sporting academies to make this a reality.