Rotorua strongman claims silver

Rotorua's Maateiwarangi Heta-Morris (right) met Arnold Schwarzenegger while taking on Lars Rorbakken (left) in an arm-wrestling exhibition match.

Rotorua strongman Maateiwarangi Heta-Morris has finished second in a major international arm-wrestling tournament just a day after meeting one of his idols.

Heta-Morris was competing in the inaugural Arnold Classic Asia Multi-Sport Festival in Hong Kong when he met the competition's founder - Arnold Schwarzenegger - while competing in an exhibition match.

Overnight, he took on giant Norwegian strongman and elite-level arm-wrestler Lars Rorbakken in the final, but could not counter the Norwegian's power.

"He's an elite arm-wrestler. He's been doing it for just under 20 years.

"I feel tired today, but all the hard work has paid off."

He said it was quite an honour to take on such a renowned competitor in the final, and to put up a fight.

"We had a battle in our final match so it was good I was able to give him something.

"He is really good. His arm strength and his technique is unreal.

"I won a nice shiny silver medal and some experience."

Heta-Morris said there was no shame in losing the final and it was "more of an honour to have placed next to an elite arm-wrestler of the world".

"I don't mind losing in front of Arnold."

He said he's had two days to rest up before coming "back to reality, work, training and family".

Heta-Morris works at Rotorua's Kilwell Fibretube making rowing oars.

The sports festival had a range of eclectic events including table tennis, judo, weightlifiting, rowing, cycling, fencing, chess, rugby and various strongman events.

The day before, Schwarzenegger watched an exhibition match between Heta-Morris and Rorbakken and shook both competitors' hands before watching the bout.

"I was invited for a spar match. His (Rorbakken's) level is way beyond a lot of people in the Pacific.

"We had a long battle, I didn't think I was going to hold him off as long as I could."

Heta-Morris said a group of people holding hands walked towards him during that match, then he realised Schwarzenegger was coming to watch.

"He was into the match hard out. He's very humble. It was awesome that he took the time to go around and watch. After that nothing else mattered.

"When I met him I just thought, 'I'm touching the Terminator's hand', you never think you're going to meet Arnold."

Heta-Morris said he was thankful to his sponsors for getting him to the tournament.