GUWAHATI: The latest entrant to the list of people from Assam making it big in the world of sports is Golap Rabha. Golap is an Assamese bodybuilder who has recently bagged the title of Mister World under WBBF held at Lithuania in Europe on 19th and 21st October. Golap - who participated in three events namely Men Bodybuilding, Men Muscle Model, and Pro-Mr. World in 80 kgs category - bagged Gold in all the three events.
Golap, however, is not a new name in the world of bodybuilding. He already has made a place for himself in both national and international bodybuilding. A member of World Body Building Federation (WBBF), he has been participating in and winning competitions for over ten years now.
Recalling how he went from doing business to becoming a professional bodybuilder, Golap told G Plus, “I was a school student when I started doing business and most people did not take me seriously. They mocked me. So, I decided to join the gym to gain muscles and have a good physique to seem like a powerful businessman. It was then that I realized how well my body responded to bodybuilding and my trainer pushed me to pursue the field.”
35-year-old Golap, who started bodybuilding in the year 2000 under the guidance of Jiten Kalita, started competing in championships in 2003. In his first professional competition, Golap lost terribly. Instead of quitting then, he started training more aggressively, researching about the field and learning new techniques.
Finally, in 2008, he started competing again. Since then, there has been no looking back. Golap won Junior Mr. Kamrup and Junior Mr. Assam for two consecutive years – 2008 and 2009. He bagged the title of Mr. Kamrup in 2013 and Mr. Assam in 2013 as well as 2016. Additionally, he was the runner-up at Mr. India 2015. He has also been titled as Mr. Eastern India, Mr. Luit and Mr. Fitpack Classic among others.
In 2017, Golap finally lived his dream when he was crowned Mr. India in the 70 kg category. He went on to win Mr. India 2018 (champion of the champions), followed by Mr. Asia 2018 and Mr. World 2018. The bodybuilding champion is now training for Mr. Universe 2018 and Mr. Asia Professional to be held in Thailand from November 24-26.
Speaking about representing his land in international competitions, an elated Golap said, "It feels great to represent the country. I always had the vision to establish the name of Assamese gamocha and Rabha pajar globally. With this win, I feel like I've accomplished that. Now, I want people outside the state to know about Boko and Assam."
Golap is not just a winner but an inspiration for all. He now runs a gym named ‘My Gym’ and trains six hours daily at his village Boko. The gym, started in 2017, currently has membership strength of over 150 individuals.
Golap informed G Plus that while the techniques taught in his gym are modern, the equipments aren't very advanced. In fact, a lot of the equipments have been prepared by Golap himself.
The world-renowned bodybuilder believes that everybody should be healthy - both physically and mentally. His advice to the younger generation is that they stay away from alcohol and drugs and focus on their fitness instead. While every fitness enthusiast and bodybuilder follow a different diet chart, Golap says that they all have one thing in common - low carb food. His diet includes eggs, oats, chicken breasts, fish, fruits, salad and loads of water. Additionally, he sometimes eats chapattis but tries to avoid rice.
In a statement released by the government, chief minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal, has congratulated Golap for his feat and said that the bodybuilder has made the state proud and lent fresh momentum to bodybuilding as a sports discipline in Assam. However, Golap informed G Plus that he has never received financial aid from the state government.
“Whenever I approached members of government of Assam, they shut me out. They neither entertained my requests nor showed any respect for the sport of bodybuilding,” Golap expressed.
He added that for an athlete to succeed, he/she needs immense support from family members and the government but the Assam government seems to not understand the efforts put in by the athletes and do not extend support until the athlete has gained media and public attention.