Wings of Strength Tampa Pro 2022 - a very successful debut for Kamal Elgargni in the Open!

On August 5-6, another competition organized under the banner of Jim Manion's IFBB Professional League, the Wings of Strength Tampa Pro 2022, took place in Florida, featuring representatives of both main male categories, i.e. both heavyweights from the Open division and their lighter counterparts with a maximum weight limit of 212 pounds.

Open Category:

A total of fourteen athletes took the stage at this event to battle it out for the win and the associated direct qualification to this year's Mr. Olympia, or at least points towards the qualifying rankings.

Akim Williams was considered the main favorite given his competitive past, and he managed to achieve a very nice sixth place at Mr. Olympia 2020. Entering the very next season with a convincing win at the Wings of Strength Puerto Rico Pro 2021, he seemed to have found the recipe for the final preparedness that used to be his biggest weakness.

However, the Arnold Classic 2021 and Mr. Olympia 2021, which featured much tougher competition, showed that his improvement was not so hot.
Many were therefore full of expectations as to what form Akim would show in this season, which he entered in Florida

One of his big rivals in the battle for the top spot was to be Kamal Elgargni, the 2019 Olympia 212 Showdown title holder, who was making his debut start among the heavyweights here.

Already the semi-final fights showed that the victory was decided not only between the aforementioned pair, but also between Quinton Eriya, who was the most symmetrical fighter on the stage!

Kamal, who earned a very boisterous welcome from the crowd, offered not only a great amount of muscle mass considering his height, but also a full, hard and across the board most absolutely mature musculature. He was thus touted by many as the clear winner.

But the winner in the end was Akim Williams, who once again benefited from his massive physique, to which he added some pretty decent form, bringing him closer to his 2020 self.
He now has four months of work ahead of him to achieve the goal he has set for this season, which is to break into the Top 5 at the Mr. Olympia 2022 in December!

So second place went to Kamal Elgargni who, unlike the public who saw him as the winner, was happy with his result. Immediately after the competition, he said that he is already looking forward to the upcoming Texas Pro 2022, where he would like to fight for the top positions again. Here he will be challenged by the likes of Steve Kuclo.

A very respectable third place was won by the elegant Quinton Eriya. He will need to pack on some extra pounds of muscle to compete even higher.

Fourth place was taken by the life-like Joe Mackey, while Phillip Clahar also made the top 5.

Results:

1. Akim Williams- qualified for Mr. Olympia 2022
2. Kamal Elgargni
3. Quinton Eriya
4. Joe Mackey
5. Phillip Clahar
6. Eddie Bracamontes
7. Stuart Sutherland

8. Tim Budesheim
9. Lee Seung Chul
10. Morgan Aste
11. Roman Fritz
12. Dorian Haywood
13. Marc-Arthur Dautruchee
14. Henry Jackson

1. Akim Williams

2. Kamal Elgargni

3. Quinton Eriya

Other competitors

More photos can be found HERE, on Npcnewsonline.com.

Categories up to 212 lbs:

There were a respectable twenty fighters in the under-212lb division, which is a decent, and in recent years quite rare, portion of competitors. In particular, Kerrith Bajjo and Ahmed Wardany, the winner and runner-up of this event last year, were the biggest favorites to win, and then there was Nathan Epler, who managed to break into the Top 5 at last year's 212 Olympia!

However, the wind was taken out of everyone's pockets by Keone Pearson, who competed here in the form of his life! In terms of final tightness, he was a bit worse than his biggest rivals, but he made up for it with his incredibly elegant physique! He deservedly took his third professional victory in this division.

The second place went to the defending champion Kerrith Bajjo, and the third place was earned by Nathan Epler, who dominates the qualification ranking for this year's 212 Olympia. He still has at least one more race to go at the upcoming Texas Pro 2022.

1. Keone Pearson - qualified for 212 Olympia 2022
2. Kerrith Bajjo
3. Nathan Epler
4. Cody Drobot
5. Rickey Moten
6. Ahmed Wardany
7. Jason Joseph
8. Stephen Didoshak
9. Derik Oslan
10. Kevin Johnson

11. Francisco Mercado
12. Enmanuel Rodriguez
13. Julius Page
14. Darius Milton
15. Ivan Cabrera
16. Sealy Cruz
16. Yordan Hernandez
16. John McGovern
16. Erik Ramirez
16. Miguel Senior

More photos can be found HERE, on Npcnewsonline.com.

Source:
www.ifbbpro.com
www.npcnewsonline.com