The International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB) World Cup 2024 will be hosted in Barbados as part of the Roger Boyce Classic in May, adding to the list of international governing bodies to choose this country for their world event.
This was announced Thursday by Vice-President of the Barbados Amateur Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation (BABBFF), Roger Boyce, at the official launch of the Roger Boyce Classic and IFBB World Cup, at the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc (BTMI), One Barbados Place, Warrens, St Michael.
Boyce who is also the First Vice-President of the Central America and Caribbean, thanked BTMI and the National Sports Council for “coming on board” and “making sure the event is a success”.
Director of the National Sports Council, Neil Murrell, acknowledged the pivotal role that the Roger Boyce Classic plays in generating interest in bodybuilding.
“Mr Boyce stepped in with the Roger Boyce Classic, where he partnered with the BABBFF to promote bodybuilding within Barbados. And during that time, we found that bodybuilding in Barbados … started to pick back up,” Murrell stated.
He highlighted the fact that competitors come from across the world to attend the classic. “We saw in Barbados a number of attendees to the Roger Boyce show on a fairly regular basis from as far away as Russia to places such as Canada, Poland, New York. So, the Roger Boyce Classic has a tremendous value-added component for Barbados,” he said.
The NSC Director also spoke about the collaboration between the Council and the BABBFF to enhance the human resource bodybuilding capital, both at the level of the association and the community.
“Just in November last year, the National Sports Council worked with the BABBFF and the IFBB to bring facilitator Professor Mauricio de Campos to train 60 persons from within the community in the sport of weightlifting and bodybuilding because we recognise at the NSC that … body fitness is the foundation for most sports,” Murrell said.
Manager of Sports at the BTMI, Kamal Springer, underscored the importance of the event. “They’re (IFBB) keen to work with us more closely, to the extent where they’ve awarded us the Spirit of the Sport Award for the contribution Roger and his team has made throughout the world, being the seventh largest such event on Earth,” stated Springer, who attended the world congress with Boyce in Spain earlier this year.
The Roger Boyce Classic and IBFF World Cup is expected to attract about 300 athletes from Africa, Central and South America and the host nation Barbados.
SOURCE: BGIS
