ผลแลทช์ฟอร์ด คลาสสิค (2549)
| 11 พฤศจิกายน 2549 |
The Latchford Classic 2006 was held in the Thai-Japan Youth Centre in Din Daeng, Bangkok. Though originally scheduled for October, it was delayed to last Saturday, November 11th. The atmosphere was pretty relaxed; fans, friends, family, officials and competitors were walking in-and-out of the main hall of Gymnasium 2, all intermingling with quiet buzz and an occasional cheer.
The main event consisted of six bodybuilding classes and one overall class for the men, one bodybuilding class for women, and a fitness class for men and one for women. The morning began with the pre-judging of the men's bodybuilding and fitness classes, and the afternoon was reserved for the men's finals and women's classes.
After lunch, Douglas Latchford, president of the Thai Bodybuilding Association, made an emotional speech stating his gratefulness for being involved in Thai bodybuilding for the last 30 years. He presented สิทธิ เจริญฤทธิ์, Thailand's only current world champion (!), a check of 1,000,000 Baht to show his appreciation.
The JUNIOR class (up to 21 years old) consisted of an amazing number of athletes: 19 -- the biggest number of any class. Perhaps this is a sign that bodybuilding finally gains some traction in this age-group in Thailand. The stage was barely big enough to hold them all during pre-judging. One man stood out: กิตติศักดิ์ วุฒิการณ์, and he was the just winner of this class.
The MASTER class (45 years and up) was won by the สมศรี ทุรินไทสง without much difficulty. He is in an amazing shape still and could easily beat many younger opponents. สมศรี ทุรินไทสง is a real crowd-pleaser and loves to pose to great hilarity of everyone present.
In the 60KG class, จีรพันธ์ โป่งคำ fended off a challange by เจริญพงษ์ ไชยวงศ์ who came in second. จีรพันธ์ โป่งคำ's great symmetry and thick legs proved to be in a league of his own. Nevertheless, เจริญพงษ์ ไชยวงศ์ made fantastic progress since his appearance in the Mr. Thailand earlier this year when he came in 5th.
The top five of the 70KG class were all in superb shape, but the best of them was สมคิด สุเมโทเวขกุล, which didn't surprise anyone. Where สมคิด สุเมโทเวขกุล may lack some height in comparison to the others, he makes it up with solid muscle. เมฆินทร์ อายุวัฒนมงคล deserves a special note here due to his charisma and a good individual posing routine.
In the 80KG class, the top spot was battled out between บุญธรรม ศรีบุญทอง and ภานุพงษ์ ประทีป. Both men were shredded to the bone, but in the end ภานุพงษ์ ประทีป knew he had met his match and was the first to congratulate บุญธรรม ศรีบุญทอง with his win.
The 80KG+ class saw an impressive ผลา มีชัย delegating ปราปต์ ปรมาภูติ to second place. ปราปต์ ปรมาภูติ was sharp, but ผลา มีชัย was beyond him. The other competitors tried their best, but were no match for these men. A noteworthy ชาญชัย กองมูล made his first appearance in this weight-class, adding an incredible 15kg to his frame in 2 months! Although he wasn't his usual shredded-self, he's determined to shape-up and make it "big".
วันชัย กาญจนพิมาย took the title of the Men's FITNESS class, delegating สมร ภู่อ่อนนิ่ม to the second place and สมศักดิ์ คำจันทร์ to third. No surprise here.
The end of the day saw บุญธรรม ศรีบุญทอง as the OVERALL winner; his aesthetically pleasing physique beating a more massive ผลา มีชัย. It may have been a roll of the dice that landed Boontham the title, as the men were all top-notch.
