5 Pinoy bets muscle way to body building final

HO CHI MINH — The Philippines’ bid for bodybuilding gold got a big boost in the SEA Games yesterday after all five Filipino musclemen qualified for the finals at the Ben Thanh Competition Hall here.

Bantamweight Roman Cortuna Jr., lightweight Jose Gerardo Bautista, light middleweight Alfredo Trazona, welterweight Arman Villasoto and light heavyweight Angelito Llora all passed the pre-judging phase Thursday, according to team manager Corina Mojica.

She explained that had any of the bodybuilders failed to meet the standards in the pre-judging stage, they would not be able to pose and strut their wares in today’s finals.

Mojica explained that each bodybuilder will be allowed to execute his poses to special music "this won’t have a big effect on the outcome since most of the judging was done yesterday.

The last time bodybuilding was included in the SEA Games in 1997 in Jakarta, Trazona placed fourth.