ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Twenty-one countries will clash this weekend when the 37th annual Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships begin here this weekend.

The line up of countries include defending champions the Bahamas and perennial favourites Barbados, Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago.

More than 200 bodybuilders and delegates arrived here this week for the tournament which ends today at the Grenada Trade Centre, in the southern tourist belt.

Organizers say it is the first time the region’s most prestigious bodybuilding championship will be staged in the eastern Caribbean and local expectations are high for Grenada’s Damien Daniel, who won the Eastern Caribbean Bodybuilding champions in Trinidad earlier this year.

“Damien has improved since winning the Eastern Caribbean Championships. He has been working very hard. He has put on some more size. He is thick. He is very muscular,” said Ken Joseph of the Grenada Amateur Bodybuilding Federation.