Manipur has been described as the powerhouse of sports in India, and it is no exaggeration.
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However, a bodybuilder from the small hill state, who has won 21 international medals and 25 national titles, has a bitter story to tell. Arambam Bobi quits his job as a clerk in Indian Railways and is starting his own gym in Imphal to train promising youth. He says that his new gym will be constructed without the help of the government. It will be inaugurated on 31 October.
Born on February 1, 1975, Mr. Bobby was attracted towards gymnastics and went to Manipur University campus for training. He got admission in SAI campus as a student. However, he left it in 1990 after a disagreement. Later, he trained himself to be an athlete.
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He joined SSB in 1993 on sports quota and stayed there for two years. During this tenure, he secretly attended a training camp in bodybuilding. Other personnel of SSB camp supported him.
His first trainer, Late K. Yaskul was there. Seeing his physical structure the teacher said, “Here, we have Mr. Junior Manipur”.
Mr Bobby won his first gold medal at the national level in 1995 and his first gold medal at the international level in 2010.
They told Hindu That he achieved title after title in later years. Manipur Government He was awarded ₹10 lakh for his outstanding record.
Mr. Bobby said, “I felt humiliated because there was no publicity or public reception. The money was just deposited into my account”. There was no government job available for him. It was given to medal winners of the recent Tokyo Olympics This is in contrast to the cash prizes worth crores of rupees and big posts like Additional Superintendent of Police, Deputy Director of Sports, etc.
Mr Bobby says that now he wants to settle down as he is not getting old. This is the reason why he has built his gym complex in Imphal West district with his own savings without getting any help from the government.
He confidently said, “Many youths here will bring honours. I want to train them so that they get gold medals in India and abroad.
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