. Mwila
By SANDRA MWILA –
SYLVESTER Mwila outmuscled 18 other competitors to win the Southern Africa Body Building Championship held at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel on Friday night to walk away with US$3,800 (about K23,000).
The former 2013 Mr Zambia, who had his title stripped for criticising the K1,500 prize awarded to him then by the Zambia Body Building and Fitness Federation (ZBBFF), was all smiles after bagging $3,000 (about K18,300) which was the top prize money.
Mwila was a darling of the crowd as he flexed his muscles to beat the Zimbabwean duo of Vincent Kandiyero and Blessings Samalinga in the final.
To reach the final, Mwila, a three-time Zambian champion, won the heavyweight category where he pocketed $800 (about K4,4880) to add on the $3,000 while Samalinga and Kandiyero won the middleweight and light heavyweight categories respectively to get $800 for each.
A visibly excited Mwila said in an interview that winning the Southern Africa title meant a lot to him, especially after the ZBBFF stripped him off the Mr Zambia title last year.
He said the competition was tough but that he managed to do his best to defeat the Zimbabweans whom he praised for putting up a tough contest.
Asked if he was comfortable with the prize money that was dangled out, Mwila said he was happy describing the prize money as fair. The champion said his now shifting his focus on preparing for the Mr South Africa scheduled for next month adding that he was positive of winning the event.
In the middleweight category, Zambia’s Honest Muyupi finished runner up to Samalinga to pocket $400 (about K2,440) while the third prize went to Enock Chanda who got $200 (about K1,220).
Zimbabwean Sugar Sugar was second to Kandiyero in the light heavyweight event to also get $400. Zambia’s Jem Phiri went away with $200 after finishing third.
The championship sponsored by Zamtel, saw all 18 participants walking away with hampers and medals.
Meanwhile, ZBBFF general secretary Lee Mukupa showered praise on Mwila for winning the title and bringing glory to the country.
