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The Kingdom of Bahrain is hosting IFBB's 62nd Men's World Bodybuilding Championships. Team ThaiBody flew to the Middle East to cover this annual event.

The schedule is as follows:

4 November - Weigh-in
5 November - Pre-Judging
6 November - Finals

NEWS UPDATE

4 November, 10:00: The Judges and Team Managers Meeting was held at 10th floor of Elite Suites Hotel. The meeting put forth a common interpretation of the rules and regulations for the championships.

4 November, 16:00: The athletes went by official bus to the weigh-in at Crown Plaza Conference Center. Security was incredibly tight and, surprisingly, only official IFBB press and local TV were allowed to shoot the proceedings. Fortunately, we got one ThaiBody photographer in to cover the weigh-in after some officials intervened on our behalf. At around 19:30, the weigh-in was done and the athletes were brought back to the Elites Suites Hotel where most of them are staying.

5 November, 10:00: Today marked the beginning of the pre-judging rounds with all competitors performing the 7 mandatory poses. The best 6 athletes will go through to the final tomorrow. Most weight-classes will have 2 rounds to first select the top-15 before settling on the final 6.

60kg: The crowd in Bahrain was rooting loudly for their athletes with lots of shooting and chanting. Somkhit from Thailand, is in a good shape but had to work hard when called out twice for comparisons. His toughest opponent looks to be Abbas Makki, the Bahraini home favorite, and Anwar Ahmed from Egypt who finished in the top 3 last in 2007 and 2006.

65kg: With 14 competitors, the always charismatic Somsri from Thailand was called out three times and may have the best chance to win this class. Sattar Atiyah Aborudh Al-Jawdah from Iraq and Johannes Hendriks from South Africa seem to be his strongest competitors.

70kg: Last years champion, Sazali Abdul Samad from Malaysia, is in great shape to win. Richard Riedl from Slovakia, with a fantastic upper body, and the Brazilian Jose Santos may be contenders for the crown.

75kg: Half of the finalists also made it to the 2007 finals. One of the new faces is 22 year old Haji Al Balushi from Oman, who competed in the 80kg category at Asian Beach Games where he came in third. He is a great poser who looks to have a great bodybuilding future.

80kg: Last year, Sitthi Charoenrith from Thailand, missed the chance to become world champion for the 3rd time in this weight-class. He has now a serious shot at achieving that goal if he beats back the challenge from the Iranian Baitollah Abbasspour. He was called-out 4 times in a field of 21 competitors. This is a tough call for the judges to make.

85kg: This is the biggest category with 26 competitors and probably the hardest to judge. The competitors from Iran, Mahdi Ayari and Abbas Agheil, may pull off a surprise.

90kg: The Bahraini bodybuilding fans were delighted when Tareq Alfarsani went up the stage. Tareq has superb biceps and chest. He won in 2007 and makes him the athlete to beat.

100kg: The Egyptians Moustafa Nasim Elsaasr and Mohamed Zakaria stood out from the rest of the field, and one of them may be Egypt's best chance for a world champion.

100kg+: The heaviest category will be the most difficult one for the judges. The field is incredibly competitive, with our best chances given to Dimitrov Dimitar from Bulgaria and the former world champion from Poland, Robert Piotrkowicz.

Egypt fielded an exceptionally good team, with 8 finalists. All three athletes from Thailand competed in the finals as well.

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