EVLS Prague Pro 2021 - a surprising but deserved winner Samson Dauda!

Yesterday, on Saturday 6 November, the Prague Hilton Hotel hosted the eighth edition of the EVLS Prague Pro competition. After a three-year break, one of the biggest and most prestigious bodybuilding events on the old continent returned to Prague.

On the podium competed in two main male categories, where both heavyweights representing the Open category and their lighter colleagues with a maximum weight limit of 212 pounds.

We'll take a look below, via a few lines, at how the representatives of Jim Manion's IFBB Professional League fared.

Open Category

A total of fourteen bodybuilders were on the podium for this event, including a trio of local fighters consisting of Jan Turek, Pavel Beran and Slavoj Bednar.
Unfortunately, none of them belonged to the strong favourites for the top positions. Adepts for the victory were Regan Grimes, who dominated the KO Squat Pro 2021 competition just a week ago, Nathan De Asha, who scored three victories during this season, the last of which was at the Yamamoto Cup Pro 2021, and Samson Dauda, who took third place at the aforementioned competitions.

Nathan, who has nine professional triumphs under his belt, was probably the biggest favourite to win and, as he said himself, he was going for his tenth victory in Prague!

Rafael Brandao, who returned to the podium after a one-year break, was another hot candidate for the top positions. Last year he managed to fight his way to the Mr. Olympia competition for the first time in his career, finishing 3rd at Europa Pro 2020, but he didn't attend the Olympia Weekend when Covid-19 disease put a stop to his participation.

Roelly Winklaar, the winner of the last two editions in 2017 and 2018, could not be counted out of the fight for the top positions! He was a force to be reckoned with despite the fact that the history of the current season clearly shows that he is slowly but surely on his way out of the scene, unable to offer what used to be the standard for him in the past.

Immediately the first semi-final comparison proved the above words to be true when the judges chose the six of Nathan De Asha, Regan Grimes, Rafael Brandao, Samson Dauda, Roelly Winklaar, and to the great delight of the home fans also Jan Turek!

Two more home fighters, Pavel Beran and Slavoj Bednar, appeared in the second comparison, in which they were joined by the rest of the starting field, namely Khaled Alkazem, James Bondi, Kevin Gebhardt, Jesus Martin Hernandez, Marek Olejniczak and Emir Omeragic.

For the third comparison the judges kept the five on the podium - Khaled Alkazem, James Bondi, Kevin Gebhardt, Marek Olejniczak and our own Slavoj Bednar. Here, unfortunately, the fight was for one single place in the Top 10.

The last semi-final comparison was determined by the foursome of Samson Dauda, Rafael Brandao, Nathan De Asha and Regan Grimes. With all four of them taking turns in the middle of the line, it was unclear who was the favorite in the eyes of the judges.

The best of our fighters was Honza Turek. He even went to the locker room after the semifinal fights as the fifth best man in the competition, and it seemed that he could fight for the Top 5 in front of the home crowd, when Roelly Winklaar was right behind him!

The finale of the competition started very sadly, with a minute of silence for the suddenly deceased Shawn Rhoden, who stood on the stage of the Prague show in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Immediately in the first final comparison, the foursome of Rafael Brandao, Nathan De Asha, Regan Grimes and Samson Dauda were given space.

The second comparison, which was fought for the third position on the scoreboard, consisted of the six of Khaled Alkazem, Slavoj Bednar, Pavel Beran, James Bondi, Kevin Gebhardt, Marek Olejniczak.

In the third comparison, the home fighter Honza Turek appeared again, to the great response of the audience, and was joined on the podium by Jesus Martin Hernandez, Emir Omeragic and Roelly Winklaar.

It was with Roelly that Honza fought for a place in the TOP 5!

The last final comparison in front of the judges was made by the same fighters as in the case of the first comparison, i.e. Rafael Brandao, Nathan De Asha, Regan Grimes and Samson Dauda. The latter seemed to be in the best shape of all present, taking first place after the semi-final bouts.

Grimes' form, compared to the semi-finals, was a little down on his form, but Brandao showed a really excellent physique, and in the eyes of the judges, improved on his points score in the semi-finals! De Asha wasn't as sharp here as has been his wont this season, and it wasn't enough to win.

In the end the victory went to Miloš Šarčev's charge Samson Dauda, who managed to offer the best combination of muscle mass and symmetry. The highlight was again his free routine. He is one of the best in the world in this category!

The second place went to another aesthetic competitor Rafael Brandao, who managed to make the most of his one-year break. He has a very narrow waist, which makes his broad shoulders stand out.

The third place was also taken by an aesthetically very well equipped competitor, namely Regan Grimes, who, like the winning Dauda, belongs to the charges of Milos Sarchev. During their cooperation Regan is growing literally before our eyes as he manages to improve from competition to competition!

"Nathan De Asha had to settle for fourth place. He might have been disappointed, as he was hoping for his tenth professional victory, but this time the starting field was unusually even, and he was a bit behind his rivals, especially in terms of aesthetics. In terms of muscle mass, he certainly outclassed the rest of the starting field, but as it turned out, the judging in Prague was a bit different than anywhere else, and body composition played a role.

However, the fifth place, which Roelly Winklaar earned from the judges, does not correspond with the above mentioned. The winner of the last two editions of this competition in 2017 and 2018 still has a certain "WOW" factor, but his abdominal muscle control is tragic! In striking any pose, he looked like a piglet in her eighth month of pregnancy. A peasant might have looked pretty good, but not a bodybuilder of his calibre!
So the question is, what led the judges to prefer him over the home fighter?

In the end, our Honza Turek scored a very respectable sixth place, which represents his best finish in the professional division so far!
He presented himself in excellent form, offering an absolutely excellent upper body! His only weakness was his triceps, which could use some more muscle.
The lower half of the body could use a few pounds of muscle as well. Thighs are still Honza's weakness, despite the fact that he managed to work on them significantly during this season.
If he can improve his legs enough in the future to match the quality and volume of his upper body, he certainly has the legs to think about topping any of the competitions he shows up at!

Another of the home fighters, Pavel Beran, finished in ninth place. He was significantly behind the leading riders in form, lacking many details. In addition, the imbalance of his lower limbs, caused by a recent injury to his right leg, was quite evident. Add to that the fact that his body gave quite a tired impression, caused by the long diet, it would be good if he decided to rest, and regain his strength for the next training.
Pavel is still very young, so he has plenty of time to continue to work on himself and develop his potential.

The last of the home representatives, Slavoj Bednar, came in twelfth place. Although he competed here in the form of his life, but considering the fact that his physique is not among the most aesthetic ones, and he cannot control his abdominal wall enough, it was simply not enough to place better. This does not change the fact that Slava is a hard worker, and in the last year he has done almost impossible things with his body under the guidance of Tomáš Bures!

Results:

1. Samson Dauda - qualified for Mr. Olympia 2022
2. Rafael Brandao
3. Regan Grimes
4. Nathan De Asha
5. Roelly Winklaar
6. Jan Turek
7. Emir Omeragic

8. Jesus Martin Hernandez
9. Pavel Beran
10. Kevin Gebhardt
11. Marek Olejniczak
12. Slavoj Bednar
13. James Bondi
14. Khaled Alkazem

Categories up to 212 pounds

There were "only" nine fighters in the 212lb division, and from the moment the names of all the participants were announced, Ahmad Ashkanani, the 2017 Arnold Classic 212 winner and the 2016 and 2017 Olympia 212 Showdown runner-up, was the clear favorite to win. Ahmad also competed at Olympia this year, but did not finish in the Top 5. But that didn't change the fact that he was the sharpest fighter on the Prague show stage!

Right at the beginning of the semi-final, it became clear that he would not be alone in fighting for victory. Oleh Kryvyi has prepared excellent form for the Prague competition! His advantage was not only his balanced physique full of hard and rounded muscles, but also his very narrow waist, which gave his perfect X-shape.

So it was no surprise at all when the two aforementioned fighters met at the request of the judges immediately in the first semi-final comparison. In addition to them, Abdulrahman Alkhashti, Radoslav Angelov, and the representative of Slovakia Peter Kovac, who was making his first start among the elite in Prague, were also selected.
In the middle of the line, the aforementioned pair of Ashkanani - Kryvyi posed.

The second comparison consisted of the rest of the starting field, i.e. Steve Benthin, Samir Troudi, Ahmad Adel Dokhy, Gábor Berek.

Samir Troudi and Steve Benthin remained standing in front of the judges for the third comparison, in which Abdulrahman Alkhashti, Radoslav Angelov and Peter Kovac completed the field, thus fighting for the third to seventh place.

The last semi-final comparison was only for the pair that has already been mentioned here several times, Ahmad Ashkanani and Oleh Kryvyi. The winner was clearly going to emerge.
Kryvyi was in better form here and was poised to defeat his more experienced opponent, thus scoring his first triumph among professionals.

As far as the final comparisons were concerned, the first one was determined by the five consisting of Steve Benthin, Samir Troudi, Ahmad Adel Dokhy, Gábor Berek and Peter Kováč, and was fought for fifth to ninth place.

In the second comparison, the foursome of Abdulrahman Alkhashti, Radoslav Angelov, and of course Ahmad Ashkanani and Oleh Kryvyi posed in front of the judges, with Ashkanani being able to work on his form quite visibly compared to the semi-final, not to mention the fact that he also presented himself here with better skin conditioning.

Perhaps that's what ultimately led Ahmad Ashkanani to win the 212lb division at the EVLS Prague Pro 2021.

Oleh Kryvyi thus took second place. However, he certainly had what it takes to place ahead of his more experienced opponent!

Third place went to Radoslav Angelov, with Abdulrahman Alkhashti finishing fourth.

Peter Kováč managed to break into the Top 5 on his professional debut, offering the best thighs across the entire starting field! Unfortunately, the excellent lower half of his body was followed, and quite significantly, by the upper half. While the muscles were round and hard, there were far fewer of them, compared to the muscles on the thighs. If Peter can work on this imbalance, the under 212 pound division certainly has something to look forward to. After all, according to many, Peter is the successor to the famed Jaroslav Horvath, who fought his way to a fantastic 4th place finish at the 2011 Olympia 202 Showdown!

Results:

1. Ahmad Ashkanani - qualified for 212 Olympia 2021
2. Oleh Kryvyi
3. Radoslav Angelov
4. Abdulrahman Alkhashti
5. Peter Kovac

6. Steve Benthin
7. Samir Troudi
8. Gábor Berek
9. Ahmad Adel Dokhy