Female bodybuilding is no ‘flesh’ in the pan
Updated: 19 Oct 2018 10:37 am
She is 39, a mother of three and the wife of a bodybuilder-husband. They are from Manipur and born in a society not known to accord any social stigma to women in sports, even bodybuilding. Mamota was a petite woman with flawless skin when she landed in Delhi 17 years ago and started working for cosmetic major Avon. She became a full-time bodybuilder after “my husband’s failure in a championship in 2011”. Back-to-back bronze in Bangkok (2012) and Vietnam (2013) put her on the world stage.
Mamota Devi Yumnum
This 24-year-old from Orkatteri, a village in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, flexes here muscles in a burkini.
Her choice of sport, which demands showing her physique, has not had any conflict with her religious propriety. “My identity is my hijab. Being a girl or a Muslim doesn’t matter. I want women to take up all challenges,” says the dental surgery student who transitioned from powerlifting to bodybuilding encouraged by her husband.
