Yong favourite for Mr Sabah crown

KOTA KINABALU: Despite not taking the stage yesterday, reigning champion Yong Chee Ken is all set to grab his third Mr Sabah title at this year’s Mr Sabah Bodybuilding Championship that enters it final day at the Asia City Complex today.

The pre-judging for the middleweight category was not held (yesterday) after it received only five entries where all five will make an automatic entry into the final.

On paper, Yong should face no trouble in emerging as the winner in the category (middleweight) to eventually defend his champion of the champions crown for the third succesive year.

In the category, Yong will be pitted against Mahadir, Victor Estrada, Mohd Asyraaf and Mohd Aslan. The surprise absence of three-time Mr Sabah champion William Amro has now paved the way for Yong to have a straight fight with former Mr Asia finalist Henro Lee for the crown.

Henro, like Yong, also faces little challenge to lift the crown in the welterweight category where he has the accompany of Johnny Said, Kuljayanie Jastine Mohd Rasli Lasius and Lee Chee Kiong.

“We are delighted to see that this time around the competition received a very good response. We are also glad to see there has been a rise in the performances of the hulksters and this is happening in almost all categories,” said the Sabah Amateur Bodybuilding Association Secretary Joseph Slyvester after the pre-judging yesterday.

For the record, more than 60 hulksters from throughout the State were involved in the pre-judging, but only five hulksters in each category will make it into the final that starts at 2pm (today). In the junior welterweight category, it will be a battle between Jumiatus Shamsuddin and Ronnie Blasius for the crown. The other finalists in the category are Lester Laif, Bakki Duin and Wikson Kihog.

Seasoned or rather veteran hulkster Oswald Jebing is the early favoruite for the flyweight category. He faces Abd. Mat Salleh, Godfrey Marcus, Wijin Bolong and Hermansha Inder for the crown.

Jerome Gundalam is also looking good for the bantamweight crown where Francis Joseph is likely to be his main challenger while the rest of the finalists are Mustapha Muntek, Frederick Leonardus and Hussin Bandu.

The lightweight category will be an interesting one with Kasmin Tiongson and Hajimin Wasli tipped to be battling it out for the crown. Alid Tong, Saiful and the veteran Simbun Daud are the dark horses in the category.

The five finalists in the light-midleweight category are Mark Allen Mogindal, Hassan Lahamih, Awangku Sulaiman and Faizal, while seasoned campaigner Geinod Lojitin will face the challenge from Chong Yen Lee, Tony Chow, Jumadin and Barry Wallace in the light-heavyweight category. The Mr Gym Rakyat Sabah will also be held at the same time as the Mr Sabah where it features four categories. The two-in one championship is offering prize money as well as medals.