Over 25 physique athletes will represent 11 nations at the 2023 Sheru Classic Pro India bodybuilding show in Pragati Maiden, Delhi, India, on Friday, June 16, 2023. They will compete across the four IFBB Pro League divisions featured with hopes of winning and thereby qualifying for the 2023 Olympia Weekend, scheduled for Nov. 2-5 in Orlando, FL.
2023 Sheru Classic Pro India Rosters
The rosters for the three male athlete divisions — 212 Bodybuilding, Classic Physique, Men’s Physique — and one female athlete division — Bikini — are below:
212 Division
- Jafa Ghaffarnezhad Azizi (Iran)
- Arash Eskandari (Iran)
- Edward Kargbo (UAE)
- Morteza Mashayekh Kordkola (Iran)
- Andrei Melnikov (Russia)
Classic Physique
- Kirk Anderson (USA)
- Vahid Badpei (Iran)
- Mehmet Emin Baydilli (Turkey)
- Chand Mondal (India)
- Khaled El Nahawy (Saudi Arabia)
- Deepak Nanda (India)
- Piyush Raj (India)
- Denis Romanov (Russia)
- Manoj Sarangapani (India)
- Mikhail Timoshin (Russia)
Men’s Physique
- Joaquim Camps Angel (Spain)
- Ali Bilal (Denmark)
- Bhuwan Chauhan (India)
- Ajith Raja P. (India)
- Dilip Kumar N H (India)
- Maxime Parisi (France)
- Raj Kumar Paswan (India)
- Mohammad Javad Sadeghi (Iran)
- Tua Anh Tran (Vietnam)
Bikini
- Karina Aleksashina (Russia)
- Elizaveta Dementera (Russia)
- Kristina Ivanova (Russia)
- Tatiana Lanovenko (Russia)
- Laura Martinez Manrique (USA)
- Liana Moroz (Russia)
- Bunluek Sanguanlikhitkun (Thailand)
- Jil Meret Schmitz (Thailand)
- Rukiye Solak (Turkey)
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Classic Physique Favorites to Watch
Below are potential top contenders for first callouts by the judges.
Denis Romanov
With 10 competitors, the Classic Physique division has the most athletes of the three men’s contests featured in India. Denis Romanov won the 2022 South Korea Pro to qualify for the 2022 Classic Physique Olympia, but didn’t compete in Las Vegas against four-time reigning champion Chris Bumstead.
Romanov is coming off a third-place finish at the 2023 AGP South Korea Classic Physique Pro show. This is his second contest of the 2023 season.
Mehmet Emin Baydilli
Daydilli competes out of Turkey. He turned pro in 2022 by winning his pro card at the NPC Worldwide Mr. Big Evolution Pro Qualifier contest. He competed twice as a rookie — his highest finish was bronze at the Embro Pro. This will be his 2023 season debut.
Piyush Raj
Raj is one of four competitors from the host country in this division. He turned pro at the 2022 NPC Worldwide Sheru Classic show. He made his pro debut at the 2022 edition of the Sheru Classic India Pro, finishing in eighth place. This is his first show of the 2023 season.
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Bikini Division Favorites to Watch
The only women’s contest competing has a deep roster, but below are three to keep an eye on for first callout potential:
Rukiye Solak
Three of the Bikini division athletes qualified for the 2022 Olympia, one of which was Rukiye Solak. Solak won the 2022 Yamamoto Cup Pro show but finished out of the top 15 at the 2022 Olympia. However, she’s already on the competitive trail in 2023 with a sixth-place finish at the 2023 Tropicarium Budapest Pro.
This is Solak’s second contest of the 2023 season. If she’s made the recommended adjustments from her previous performance, she’s a contender for the podium.
Jil Meret Schmitz
Schmitz turned pro in Thailand in 2022 and won her first pro show, the 2022 Thailand Pro, to qualify for the 2022 Olympia. Like Solak, Schmitz didn’t place within the top 15.
However, standing on the biggest stage in the sport so early in one’s pro career is a confidence booster that should pay out dividends for the second-year pro. India is her first pro show appearance of 2023.
Elizaveta Dementera
Dementera is a Russian competitor who qualified for the 2022 Olympia by winning the 2022 Sheru Classic Mumbai Pro. However, unlike Solak and Schmitz, Dementera didn’t compete in the 2022 Olympia. As qualifications don’t carry over into following years, Dementera needs to score another pro show win to re-qualify for the 2023 Olympia in Orlando.
Featured image: @_rukiyesolak on Instagram
