FORTAFY IN FIJI NEWSPAPER FOR BODYBUILDING

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Brisbane-based bodybuilder, Sam Ratumaitavuki, wants to represent Fiji at next year’s South Pacific Games in Noumea.

Ratumaitavuki, who hails from Moturiki, in Lomaiviti, says while he respects local bodybuilders, he is ready to fly to Fiji to compete in the local competition to prove he is ready to represent the country in his weight category.

“For me, it’s not about winning Mr Suva or Mr Fiji, but its all about working with other Fiji bodybuilders to win Gold medals for Fiji at the next SPG,” he said.

Ratumaitavuki was spotted in Brisbane by Reg Sanday of Suva. Sanday is the founding President of the Fiji Amateur Bodybuilding Association and he encouraged Ratumaivuki to compete for Fiji.

Sanday was President in 1995 when the then Mr Fiji, Aporosa Bogi and Mr Suva, John Goulding pulled a surprise on the rest of the Pacific and won gold medals for Fiji at the Tahiti SPG. Auckland-based Dennis Fong won silver and Tumeli Navutovuto of Suva won a bronze.

“No one in the Pacific expected Fiji to sweep the field in bodybuilding like we did back then, Sanday said. “We kept under the radar leading up to the Games but worked hard and our strategy worked.” he added

The performance was the best ever for any Fiji bodybuilding team at the SPG and it placed Fiji in an equal first place with Guam in the bodybuilding comp.

Sanday, of the Charman’s Gym in Suva, said Ratumaitavuki is definitely a gold medal prospect. He said with the inclusion in the SPG squad of Ratumaitavuki and Caine Wendt, the former Mr Canada amateur champion, who won Mr Fiji in 2008, and a few other local and overseas bodybuilders, the 1995 record haul of medals could be broken at next year’s games, but a lot would need to be done between now and then.

Ratumaitavuki started weight training at Wesley College in New Zealand at the age of 16.

He played open side flanker for the First XV rugby team that included All Black Fijian winger, Sitiveni Sivivatu. The team was the NZ secondary school champions that year.

Ratumaitavuki moved to Brisbane in 2004 and played open side flanker at premier grade for Sunnybank.

His favourite exercises are deadlifts, squats and dips. His personal best lifts are - bench press 220kg, dead lift 300kg and dips with 100kg weight added. He loves to train hard and eat right. He is 5 foot 10 and in the off-season he weighs in at 110 kg but after dieting he competes at 85kg.