ISLAMABAD - Newly-crowned Mr Pakistan Ejaz Ahmed has requested Prime Minister Imran Khan and Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Minister Dr Fahmida Mirza to lend him helping hand in taking part in Mr Universe to be held in South America this year.
Ejaz, 33, who won the Mr Pakistan 80kg+ heavyweight body building title in Islamabad last week expressed these views during an exclusive interview to The Nation on Wednesday.
Ejaz said, he wanted to contest in number of international bodybuilding championships including Thailand, USA, Singapore, Malaysia while he had contested in Dubai Expo Pakistan Bodybuilding and men physique competition and was among top 6 out of 80 contestants. He said all the top bodybuilders of the country were gathered in Islamabad for Mr Pakistan contest and he managed to beat them all for the gold.
“I had started bodybuilding around a decade back and I had 5 titles in Pakistan, which include Mr Pakistan, Mr Gujrat, MR Attock, Mr Islamabad as well. I had worked very hard under the watchful eyes of Mian Usman of Gujranawala. He was also a known bodybuilder of the country.”
Ejaz said he has potential and ability to win international medals for Pakistan but lacks finances. “There will be an international expo in May in England and I want to take part in the championship.”
When asked about why he picked bodybuilding, Ejaz replied: “I always love bodybuilding. I had watched Jay Cuttler, Phil Heath, Flex Wheeler, who are the best in the business. In Pakistan I liked Masoom Butt and Atif Anwar. They remained neat and clean and still going very strong. I am presently employed at Special Education Directorate as Mobility Instructor. I want government to provide me relaxation so I could focus on more training.”
He said used of banned substance is major problem being faced by the Pakistani youth and the youngsters these days want to become famous overnight and they didn’t care about how much it could cause danger to their lives and that is the reason why number of bodybuilders had died recently. He asked the government to keep check on bodybuilding clubs and ensure proper licences to be issued and only those fitness gyms and clubs should be given licences, who follow rules and regulations. “I had never tried to use any banned substance throughout my career, as I always believe in hard work and always follow the international rules.”
Ejaz said he was married and have two kids and can’t afford to travel abroad for international events. He said it already takes almost Rs60000 per month to stay in shape and government must step forward and patronise the bodybuilders like him for international events. “I can assure, we have a great potential and we won’ let down country,” Ejaz concluded.