Kabul – Bodybuilding Fever (Again)

After the waves of bodybuilding craze when Mr. Kabul of the year was elected, almost exactly one month ago, now the national bodybuilding championship invites all bodybuilders nationwide to join the craze.

Contestants from 24 cities in the country competed in 9 different weight classes in the championship. I had heard previously that the contest today was to choose Mr. Afghanistan of the year, but I was mistaken. A Herat contestant from 75-kg class said that Mr. Afghanistan title is abolished this year, in order not to make bad feeling on contestants who failed to win. The guy who won title of the man of Afghanistan last year was also from Herat, is absent from today’s final contest. Even the newly elected Mr. Kabul did not attend this contest either.

So what is the contest for? This national bodybuilding contest is to choose the athletes for the Afghan national team. Quite a pride, isn’t it? The master of ceremony repeated the praise over and over, that contestants who present on the stage are actually national winners already, as they were the best that Afghanistan can offer.

The stage where the country’s best stood invited the crowds from provinces around the country. The contestants also ranged from the ‘hospitable’ Kunduz province (quoted from the MC) until the Talibanized Helmand and Kandahar provinces also competed in the contest. Shir Ahmad, a Helmand contestant with rather disabled legs, says, “The city is safe. We can practice bodybuilding in clubs. No problem at all. But the villages are dangerous.” Shir Ahmad came to Kabul with his team by taking bus through Southern Route Highway, passing the hot provinces of Kandahar and Ghazni, where the Korean hostages were abducted. “It was very dangerous indeed,” said Shir Ahmed about the risk of the journey. But the fear of security reason didn’t prevent him to join the national contest.

Kandahar also sent 6 athletes competing in 6 different classes. As the Kabuli compatriots, Kandahar bodybuilders were fit, smooth, and strong (some contestants even preserved that hilarious beard – genuinely from Kandahar). Winner quality. But they had to face many other heavy opponents, especially from Herat. The westernmost province of Afghanistan was favored to dominate the contest. Remember the last year’s Mr. Afghanistan title was grabbed by a Herati? This time, Herat sent 9 athletes for all 9 categories, all are strong candidates.

Kabul is another strong team. Kabul got the first medal when the bodybuilding club owner Khoja Siddiqi won the lightest 55-kg category. The 24 year old bodybuilder was very popular and he looked very optimistic when I chatted with him before the show. He knew that he would win.

The northern province of Mazar-i-Sharif, competed in 6 categories, was also not an easy team. The team, consisted of Tajik and Uzbek ethnics, seemed very solid and proud. Qais Ahmadi, an Afghan used to reside in Germany and now turned to be trainer in the town, was very proud of his team. Mazar didn’t only send young athletes, but also a senior man, Hajji Mahmood Shah.

Hajji Mahmood might be among the oldest bodybuilders in Afghanistan. Don’t look only on his grey hair and beard, but also his well-shaped body. His age reached 53 years old (was announced 55 by the MC). He had practiced the sport for about 1 year. When I saw him, he was training his muscles with two heavy dumbbells. What made Hajji Mahmood interested in the sport? “I was sick. Doctor told me to exercise to recover. I tried bodybuilding. And I am recovered!”

I think this will be the huge provocation for people to try bodybuilding. Indeed the organizers invited Hajji Mahmood here, not as contestant, but as demonstration to attract more people to the bodybuilding fever. Hajji Mahmood, together with two other senior athletes, showed that old age didn’t prevent them from exercises. Moreover, Hajji Mahmood also asked whether I visited Mecca. From the Hajji title we may refer that he had been to pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Hajji Mahmood recalled seeing many Indonesians in Arabia. The Indonesians, said him, didn’t go to any marriage before going to Mecca (I have heard most people in Central Asia learned about this characteristic of Indonesians). The Indonesians in his eyes were a group of small and skinny people. (Maybe he inferred that Indonesians need more bodybuilding clubs…?)

Today contest was less atmospheric compared to last month’s Mr. Kabul contest. It might be because of the worsening security reason that outer provinces enthusiasts preferred to avoid the journey to Kabul, or the Kabulis were not that much interested as majority of contestants were from outer provinces, complete strangers to them. No matter what, this contest was successfully united bodybuilders from all corners of the country.