Bodybuilding ban: heavyweights cut a sorry figure

They successfully organised ‘Mr Universe’ last November. Two months after the mega event they fell apart — and how. Indian Bo...

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They successfully organised ‘Mr Universe’ last November. Two months after the mega event they fell apart — and how. Indian Bodybuilding Federation (IBBF) president Madhav Pujari was served a three-year ban today by the sport’s Asian body, a development that appears to be the fallout of a rift between him and one-time aide Suresh Kadam.

It was Kadam who’d helped Pujari organise the Mr Universe contest but, last month, was expelled as IBBF general secretary on the charges of financial misappropriation. Treasurer Deepak Bagul was too shown the door.

The tables were turned today. In a letter to Pujari, the International Federation’s vice-president for Asia and Asian Bodybuilding Federation secretary general Datuk Paul Chua has charged him with duping the New Delhi Bodybuilding Association (NDBBA) president Amarjeet Malik and collecting $4,000 in Chua’s name. He also collected Rs 35,000 from bodybuilder S Ashok Singh (as part payment of penalty imposed on the bodybuilder) in 1999 and ‘‘despite several reminders, refused to give him an official receipt and the same was also not reflected in IBBF account.’’

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Pujari, when contacted by The Indian Express, vehemently denied these charges. ‘‘First of all the financial matter between me and Singh is strictly a private affair. I was never asked about the same even by our general body. Other charges too are baseless,” he told.

Interestingly, Datuk Paul Chua too refers to the fight between Pujari and Kadam in his letter: ‘‘You have not bothered to reply to my letters formally and have chosen to divert my attention to your infighting with Suresh Kadam.”

Pujari questions IFBB’s authority. ‘‘How can an international body ban me on these charges? Let the Indian body prove the charges first and punish me.’’

He also wondered why the said letter was posted to Kadam’s address and not his home address or the National body’s official address.

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Kadam, who has challenged his and Bagul’s expulsion, said a decision to ban Pujari from IBBF activities would be taken during the AGM and elections, to be held in Jorhat in Assam on February 15.

‘‘With both the world and the Asian body announcing the three-year ban on Pujari, there is very little we can do but to follow suit as otherwise our membership might be cancelled’’, Kadam said.