Afghan body beautiful flex to win Mr. Afghanistan

By Golnar Motevalli

KABUL (Reuters) - Inside a small, dark and sweaty movie theatre in the heart of the Afghan capital, a packed audience of men chant and whistle as bronzed and muscular figures flex their biceps in the hope of being crowned Mr. Afghanistan.

The walls of the run-down Park Cinema, in bustling Shar-e-Now district, are plastered with Bollywood film posters, some peeling at the edges in the heat.

"I used to exercise under the Taliban but there were very few clubs you could go to back then," said 33-year old Rahmatullah, clutching the gold cup he won in the heavyweight 90 kg class.

Resembling copper-plated statues in their tiny, skin-tight underpants, competitors showed off their painstakingly toned muscles, contorting their bodies and tensing their metallic bottoms, backs, thighs and stomachs.

Afghan police, armed with AK-47 rifles, wove through the cheering and excited audience, a reminder that conservative, Muslim Afghanistan is in the middle of a war and that the Mr. Afghanistan contest might not be to everyone's taste.

"The television only shows the men from the waist up and they say which provinces they are from, but won't name them," smiles Mohammad Reza, who trained one of the finalists.

Reza was more worried about the use of steroids and synthetic hormones by some competitors.

"Their wives are worried about their health, some have problems having children," said Reza, adding that drugs were available "everywhere".