Fitness and physique will be on display when the first-ever International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Diamond Cup Saint Martin/ St. Maarten Championships are held in Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino on Sunday, July 28.
The competition will pit local and international bodybuilders against each other in amateur and professional matchups. Local bodybuilding pro Maudienne Profas (St. Maarten) and fitness pro Josephine Elvina Mathews (St. Martin) will be keeping this island’s flags high at the upcoming competition.
Mathew earlier this month placed second in her category before advancing to the overall where she placed fourth at the International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB) Pro Diamond Cup in Barbados. The Barbados meet was her first competition for the year.
Profas was named Female Athlete of the Year for outstanding achievements in bodybuilding at the third Brown Pelican Sports Awards in November 2018. Profas achieved her International Federation of Body Building (IFBB) elite pro status at the Giovanni Arends Classic competition in Aruba in 2018. She, at the time, was the first female IFBB Elite Pro in St. Maarten, one of a select group of five pros on the island.
Mathews and Profas will face fellow competitors who are flying in from several corners of the globe including Ukraine, Russia, Spain, South Africa, the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Barbados. This IFBB Diamond Cup event is opened any athlete locally, regionally and internationally, who wishes to compete at this level.
The world’s number one Men's Physique athletes from Ukraine (Dmytro Voievodchuck) and from Trinidad and Tobago (Dexter Simon), as well as the world’s number one and number two IFBB bikini pros from Russia are among those signed up and ready to compete here in the tropics for the Diamond Cup.
The championship will consist of six categories: Bodybuilding, Men's Physique, Women's Physique, women’s fitness, bikini, and wellness. The entire competition will be managed by the IFBB international federation from Spain.
Organiser Bodybuilding and Fitness Association of Saint Martin (BFASM) promises a spectacular day of fun, fitness and healthy competition. The amateur event at Sonesta Maho starts at 10:00am and will be followed by the pro event at the same venue at 7:00pm.
The two-part competition will allow athletes from the amateur competition to level up to pro where they can compete for a cash prize of US $20,000.
Local bikini champion Josephine Elvina Matthew will seek to level up to pro right here at home with a planned outstanding performance and body toning in the amateur leg of the competition.
Current top Pro Women's-Physique Maudienne Profas will make her first pro debut at the Sonesta Maho event. Event organizer BFASM President Francois Carty says spectators can just imagine the anticipation these two athletes will be experiencing at both amateur and pro levels. They will also be joined by their teammates in the various categories.
BFASM says a championship of this calibre is not only a great opportunity to showcase local athletes, it also provides a platform for athletes from the islands within the Caribbean region.
Parallel to the main championship event is a judges’ seminar. This workshop aims to enable local and regional judges to become IFBB international judges.
A question-and-answer session for all athletes with the world champion men's physique on posing, dieting and training for all men and women is also part of the parallel programme for the Diamond Cup.
International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness or IFBB is the governing body of the sport of bodybuilding and fitness. It was founded by brothers Joe and Ben Weider in 1946 in Montreal, Canada, and its current President is Dr Rafael Santonja. IFBB headquarters are located in Madrid, Spain.
Local organization BFASM was formed more than a decade ago to promote the island’s athletes with annual bodybuilding, fitness and physique competition, and has been meeting these goals and serving as a springboard for athletes to take on the world. Hosting of the Diamond Cup is seen as one such event.
Tickets for the IFBB Diamond Cup St. Martin/St. Maarten edition cost US $45 each and are available from Bodybuilding and Fitness Association of Saint Martin members and at all gyms on both sides of the island.
