WABBA MR. AND MISS UNIVERSE 2017
W
ELL FOLKS, I AM BACK BLIGHTY
and what a trip it’s been. When it was
announced that the WABBA Universe
was going to be held in Budapest, I knew this
would be a great contest.
JUNIOR
MASTERS OVER 40
MASTERS OVER 50
Bodybuilding is hugely popular in Hungary although
the average wage out there is much lower than that
in the United Kingdom, so not many athletes can afford
to travel abroad but the culture is there, in the past we
have seen some great athletes from Hungary.
My suspicions were confirmed at registration.
Hungary submitted the biggest team they have ever
had. Over 50 athletes across all 20 classes were
measured and weighed, some stripped off and others
didn’t need to and kept everything under wraps, but we
just knew this team was quality. Our team registered
next, also the best team we ever had and we stamped
our authority on this contest there and then.
Then came the mighty Italy with 60entrants, Spain
with 20, Ukraine with 30, Greece with 10, France with
20 and numerous smaller teams from India, Mauritius,
USA, Switzerland, Belgium, Iraq, and Cyprus.
It took 8 hours to register them all, with the last
athlete registering at 10.30pm.
Hungary’s organization was superb, the hotel we
were in were a set of studio apartments, our team
were able to control their food much better with their
own cooking facilities. Supermarkets were close by
and food is really reasonable in Hungary so going into
the show, the conditions for our team were as good
as we could possibly make them.
The Contest
MISS SHAPE
SHORT 168
124
FLEX | FEBRUARY 2018
The contest itself was incredible, from the moment
the Juniors came on in the first class, we knew the
standard would be off the scale. The Junior winner was
Hungarian, he would have stood his ground in the Men’s
classes. The home team had started like they meant
business.
Next up was Masters Bodybuilding Over 40, we had
2 team members in this class, Danny Ingram and Dee
Cee Clarkson, both were narrowly edged out of the top
6 in what was a savage class, the winner was again
Hungarian and we could feel a pattern forming here
but we knew our team had some big guns to fire yet.
Masters Over 50 was next with Mickey McKay taking
6th and making a great account of himself in a very
tough class.
Next up was Miss Shape, Hungary’s strong suit,
the last Miss Universe and last World Champion had
been Hungarian so we knew the class would be tough.
We were not disappointed, there were 22 athletes in the