{"id":401284,"date":"2023-11-03T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=401284"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"NMI-bodybuilders-up-for-competition-in-bigger-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/NMI-bodybuilders-up-for-competition-in-bigger-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"NMI bodybuilders up for competition in bigger stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Team Marianas\u2019 representatives in the bodybuilding event, Christina Tudela and Davy Laxa, will be making their debuts in the 2023 Pacific Games and are ready for the challenge that comes with competing in a bigger stage.<\/p>\n

Tudela will be the NMI\u2019s entry in the women\u2019s model physique category in the bodybuilding competition that will take place on Nov. 27 at the Maranatha Hall in Honiara, the Solomon Islands. Laxa, on the other hand, is competing in the men\u2019s bantamweight class. Both athletes are relative newcomers in the sport with Tudela having her first bodybuilding tournament in 2020 and Laxa just last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my first time to compete off-island and in an even bigger tournament and I take this as a challenge. I never expected myself to get involved in bodybuilding in the first place as growing up, I was never into sports. Now, here I am and ready to take on every opportunity I could get to improve myself, my health, and represent our islands,\u201d said Tudela.<\/p>\n

The winner of the Dee Clayton Classic tournament in 2020 and 2022 added that since this will be her first competition outside the NMI and she has no clue about her competitors, she does not feel much pressure and is focused on her own performance on the bodybuilding stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not compare myself to others as I might lose focus. I will concentrate on doing the extra work in certain areas, such as my back, core, and glutes,\u201d the Northern Marianas College student added.<\/p>\n

Laxa, who finished second in the men\u2019s physique short category of the Dee Clayton Classic last year in his debut in bodybuilding, has the same approach to his first off-island competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be competitors bigger than me in the Pacific Games, but I won\u2019t let them intimidate or discourage a newcomer like me. My concentration is to get better each training day and work on my conditioning to be in good shape come the competition time,\u201d said Laxa.<\/p>\n

Northern Marianas Bodybuilding and Physique Federation president Dee Clayton, meanwhile, said that though they are only sending two representatives to the Solomon Islands, she is pleased that Team Marianas gets to be part of the return of the bodybuilding competition in the Pacific Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cBodybuilding does not make it to Pacific Games on a regular basis. We did not have it 2019 in Samoa, so I am very happy that we have it this year and we have the opportunity to participate\u2014give our athletes a chance to compete against some of the best in our region,\u201d said Clayton, who herself represented the NMI in the Pacific Games years ago.<\/p>\n

The bodybuilding head also hopes that having NMI representatives go to off-island tournaments will drum up interest in the sport and encourage more people to get involved in their program.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we have several students in bodybuilding. Some of them were supposed to join the team in Solomons, but there is an age requirement (at least 21 years old). However, I look forward to seeing them stay in the program to some day have the opportunity to represent the NMI in bigger stage,\u201d Clayton said.<\/p>\n

Laxa and Tudela are part of the more than 100 NMI athletes and officials participating in the 2023 Pacific Games that will run from Nov. 19 to Dec. 2, 2023. Team Marianas\u2019 participation in this year\u2019s Pacific Games is supported by the Joeten Daidai Foundation, Triple J, Crowne Plaza Resort, IT&E, IP&E, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Mobil, Tan Holdings, and McDonald\u2019s. (PR)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n


Pic Master Volleyball<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Team Marianas\u2019 representatives in the bodybuilding event, Christina Tudela and Davy Laxa, will be making…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}