Arm wrestler Daniel Antonio goes ‘Over the Top’ at Arnold Classic Europe tournament

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By Neto Baptiste

Arm wrestling is not amongst the most popular sports in Antigua and would probably not make the top 10 list of sports preferred by youngsters across the wider Caribbean.

Despite the challenges, two Antiguans Daniel Antonio and Joshua Brothers have however managed to turn their passion and drive for the sport into a succeed story with Antonio recently excelling at the Arnold Classic Europe Arm Wrestling Tournament held in Madrid, Spain.

Daniel, a member of the Brothers in Armz 268 group, dominated the beginners’ category (over 100kg) for a first place finish before going on to place fifth in the senior’s category against multiple time world and Spanish champions.

Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Antonio said that although the popular Arnold Classic was his third International competition, it opened his eyes to a new level of competition.

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Antigua and Barbuda’s Daniel Antonio poses next to a tournament promo banner during the Arnold Classic Europe Arm Wrestling Tournament held in Madrid, Spain

“It is something that I’ve never really experienced before so doing a tournament is much different from doing a super match. A super match is basically where you go against one person in a best of three or a best of five, but this format is something I’ve never done before which is a tournament where you go up against multiple people in elimination rounds so it’s much more nerve-racking, much more endurance requiring so it was a different experience,” he said. 

Indicating his intentions to start a national association and grow the sport here, Antonio explained that he and others have been involved in the activity for quite some time with the group of about 20 meeting monthly at the Botanical Gardens.

“We’ve all been arm-wrestling since primary school but we took it an extra mile where I realized I had a talent. I went to the St Michael’s Primary School and a story I like to tell people is that my first serious arm-wrestling experience is when I was in grade six and some guys graduated from the school, they were probably in third form [at their new school] and they came back to [St Michael Primary] came into the classrooms during the break and started arm-wrestling everybody and nobody could beat them. I went and arm-wrestled them and best them with my right and left hands,” he said. 

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On the podium: Daniel Antonio (centre) stands atop the winners’ circle in the beginners’ category (Photos courtesy Daniel Antonio)

A personal trainer by profession, Antonio thanked sponsors Cool & Smooth, Prime Minister Hon. Gaston Browne and Automotive Arts as his main sponsors. He, however, added that a lack of adequate funding is a major issue as they seek to grow the sport.

“I’ve been doing a lot of social media work in terms of networking and a lot of international arm-wrestlers have seen my work and are impressed and have invited me out to do their tournaments and to do super matches across the globe. Right now, it’s a matter of funding and I am still a young man and can’t afford to be going from country to country every month so funding is a major inhibitor right now but as far as my talent and as far as networking, I am going full speed ahead,” the athlete said.

The group, Brothers in Armz 268, was formed back in 2020. 

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