adminThe Mr and Ms Novice is set to be the first competition of the year to be held under the auspices of the National Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness Association.
Entries to the Mr and Ms Novice are closed to athletes who have never competed in any bodybuilding event before and is expected to attract an unknown field.
“To be honest, I have never watched any of the bodybuilding competitions although I have been making a lot of inquiries from friends.
“So far I have received help from Blessing Samaringa at Pro Fitness Gym and then Keith Chirimhanzi at Empire,” said Matizanadzo.
Matizanadzo said his primary objective will be to get the feeling of being on stage in a gym trunks and exhibiting lusty sinews.
“I just want to get exposure for future events like the Mr Harare in August.
“My strength is not on size.
“But I have a well defined body and I have also been working on the posing routines,” said Matizanadzo.
Chirimhanzi, who is the chairperson of the Harare Bodybuilding Association said they have not received confirmed entries so far.
He was however hopeful of getting more than 30 on the day.
“So far we are getting a lot of inquires from aspirants.
“We hope to get around 25 people for the combined senior men’s show while they could be 15 for the juniors.
“The women’s section has always been a challenge,” said Chirimhanzi.
Last year, Nunurai Masosonere won the event.
He is now competing at more prestigious events like the Mr Harare .
Well established athletes like Walter Munyikwa and Tarirai Chirume are former Mr Novice winners.
Chirimhanzi said they have scrapped the wheelchair category for this year in fear of compromising quality.
“For this year, we are not having the wheelchairs.
“The last time we had some people coming simply because they were on wheelchairs but without the necessary preparations.
“So we are giving training to a group of athletes in wheelchairs who should give better quality by the time we host the Mr Harare in August,” said Chirimhanzi.
After the Mr Novice, Chirimhanzi said HBA will move around to revive structures in the zones and districts so that preliminaries for the Mr Harare are staged.
Meanwhile some of aspirants for the Mr Novice have been getting free advice from former Mr Zimbabwe junior Munashe Matandirotya.
Matandirotya, through his Muscle Xclusive is offering help on dieting, posing and information of standard judging criterion.
Online Reporter