It has been man's endeavour to excel in every walk of life. In sports - which has
become an integral part of modern life - man has been striving to achieve greater heights.
The return to body to building as a competitive sport took place in the 19th Century.
Arnold Shwarzenegger in his encyclopedia of modern body building states: "At the end
of the 19th Century a new interest in muscle building arose, not muscle just as a means of
survival or of defending oneself, but a return to the Greek ideal - muscular development
as a celebration of the human body. And thus began the sport of body building as a
celebration of the male physique." By the last decade of the 20th century women
abroad had also taken to "flexing" their muscles. Sandra Ann Brickett of England
(Ms. World in 1991 and Ms. Europe in 1992) was the first woman to demonstrate the sport in
India during the 1992 national championships at Bangalore.
England's Eugene Sandow was the first man of modern body building, who sent the audiences
into raptures by his body display during the 1890s in America. The sport rapidly spread in
America after the success of Eugene Sandow's shows and today there are two distinct
cultures of body building at the international level. Before its evolution as an
individual sport, body building was a part of the training exercises for wrestlers and
weightlifters. Body building was a demonstration sport in the first Asian Games at New
Delhi in 1951. It was, however, dropped subsequently.
Till 1980, body building was conducted under a common category. However, in that year it
was divided into height class body building and weight class body building. While the
Americans dominated in the weight class, the height class has remained the
"forte" of European body builders.
From the era of the late K.V. Iyer, India has its own history of body building. A strict
vegetarian and a great believer in the values of natural food, fresh air and exercises,
K.V. Iyer transformed his weak body into a monument of physique by sheer hard work using
only dumb bells and bar bells.
The National Amateur Body Building Federation of India, the parent organisation for the
spread of the sport, is affiliated to the World Amateur Body Building Association (height
class) headquartered in Paris and the Asian Body Building Federation with its headquarters
in Japan.
Mantosh Roy of Calcutta became the first Indian to win the Mr. Universe title in 1951 at
the London championship. Manohar Aich, Parimal Roy, Prcmchand Dogra and Raymond D'Souza
are some of the other prominent body builders of India. Manohar Aich, who finished second
in the 1951 world championship, claimed the gold in the next year followed by bronze
medals in 1955 and 1960. Premchand Dogra, who has the distinction of winning five Mr. Asia
titles in a row, won the Mr. Universe title under the weight category body building
championship in 1988 at Brisbane after having finished second in the 1986 meet.
Raymond D'Souza, who claimed a silver in the 1987 Asian meet, won the Mr. Natural
International title in the 1990 height category body building contest at Japan.
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