DEHRADUN: Twenty-one-year-old Bhumika Sharma from Dehradun has become the first Indian woman to win the Miss World Body Building Championship. Held in Italy last week, she defeated 50 women from across the world in the final rounds to clinch the title.In Dehradun now after returning to India on June 21, Bhumika said more than the feel of "muscles sometimes collapsing", her toughest challenge was actually off the stage "as my desire to carve a space for myself in the male-dominated sport was mostly met with ridicule".Bhumika, a second-year student at a private college in the city, won gold in the international championship organized by World Amateur Body Building Association (WABBA). Talking to TOI about her journey so far, she said, “When I first started training, people made fun of me. But as time went by and I developed clean cut muscles, less and less people ridiculed me.”The college girl got interested in bodybuilding after a trainer at a gym showed her some workout videos. Before that she had decided to become a professional shooter. “I was at the gym one day and my trainer showed me some videos of women in bodybuilding. It was a sort of revelation for me because until then I had not thought that women could have muscles like men. I knew at that very moment that this is what I wanted to do,” she said.Bhumika was lucky to have the support of her parents but she said she faced a lot of discouragement along the way. “Bodybuilding is a male-dominated field and at times men would get insecure when they would see my workouts. There is a lot of negativity towards women bodybuilders. At times I was demotivated. I also suffered a neck injury during the first year of my training. But it was my mother’s constant support that kept me on track,” she said. Her mother, Hansa Manral, is the chief coach of India’s women weightlifting team.The young girl developed an interest in sports early on, even winning gold in Taekwondo at a national level championship. At present, she has a rigorous routine, which includes a strict diet and working out for seven hours daily.“My training schedule is packed with running and weight lifting but apart from working out diet is one of the most important factors for this sport. I count every calorie I take,” she said.Bhumika now has her eyes set on the Miss Universe Body Building Championship scheduled to be held at the end of the year.

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