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Paul Goredema (centre) flexes muscles on his way to winning the Mr Zimbabwe overall title at the bodybuilding contest held at Harare International School on Saturday

Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO-based competitors put up an excellent show at the Mr and Ms Zimbabwe bodybuilding competition held at Harare International School on Saturday, with Paul Goredema, who entered under Body Works Gym claiming the biggest prize of the night.

Goredema, who works in Gweru, but also trains at a better equipped fitness centre in Bulawayo during weekends, walked away with the Mr Zimbabwe title, having also won the heavyweight division.

The 27-year-old is a holder of a Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree in Business Management.

He works at the Gweru Polytechnic as a stores assistant in the mechanical engineering department.

In an interview yesterday, Goredema said his victory came as a surprise because he felt that his training partner Nigel Maphosa was meant to bag the top prize.

“I come to Bulawayo every weekend to train on Fridays and Saturdays at Body Works. During the week I train at Gweru Sports Club gym. Body works signed me up a month ago,” said Goredema.

“It feels great to win; I really worked hard to be ready for the show. I wasn’t expecting to win, there was stiff competition from other guys who have been training all along. Maphosa was very competitive and personally I felt he was supposed to win. He has been my training partner, but is now based in Johannesburg. I am happy to represent both provinces Midlands and Matabeleland,” said Goredema.

For his exploits, Goredema took home a total of               $1 300; $300 for winning the heavyweight division and $1 000 for being crowned Mr Zimbabwe.

Greenland, who flew all the way from England to offer support to bodybuilders at his Body Works Gym, was delighted that Goredema won Mr Zimbabwe.

“He was not even noticed, he was not known. We have been keeping him under wraps. He has been our secret weapon (and) we have been holding him back,” said Greenland.

To show Bulawayo’s dominance at the national competition, Shantel Greenland won the Ms Zimbabwe beach bikini title while Selina Manuel walked away with the Under-19 girls’ fitness title. Zibusiso Khumalo was the best Under-20 bodybuilder; Domingo Lunga was the runner up in the masters; Brian Samundombe was the best in the men’s physique for those over 178 centimetres; reigning Mr Bulawayo Lovemore Munyamana took bronze in the Under-75kgs, while Marko Mwale was the best in the wheelchair category.

Maphosa won the light heavyweight division; the middleweight went to Garikai Mujuru; Muchineripi Muneri took the lightweight title; Lee Dzinzi walked away with junior men Under-23, while Godwin Mhaka clinched the men’s physique up 178cm and the male’s overall physique title.

Greenland feels that Bulawayo could have collected more accolades had some of the athletes not pulled out of the competition. He expressed his appreciation to the media for supporting bodybuilding in the country.

“We thank you for what you are doing for us in this sport. We appreciate it and are now winning gold medals. We missed out on two gold medals and other medals. Charity (Juma) did not go, Pardon (Dube) is still injured and then big Mike (Alimu) did not go,’’ Greenland said.

The Mr and Ms Zimbabwe event is the premier national bodybuilding competition and it was graced by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sport and Recreation Godfrey Chipare, as well as the Sports and Recreation Commission acting director general Joseph Muchechetere.

@Mdawini_29