Gambian military bodybuilder, Abdoulie Badjie, known as ‘Lion’ is eyeing victory in the international bodybuilding competition scheduled to take place in the Senegalese capital, Dakar in December.

He has been competing as a bodybuilder both domestically and internationally for five years, and has emerged second in one domestic and international competitions.

“I will be competing internationally on 16 December (2023) in Senegal, and I am going to compete in the men’s physique. Right now I don’t have anybody supporting me, I finance myself,” Badjie told Gambianaexclusively.

Badjie who joined the army as a trained boxer had to switch to bodybuilding due to lack of support to reach his goals in the boxing sport despite showing earlier promise. 

“I was having lots of advantages in boxing but because I was not having the support, I decided to switch to bodybuilding,” he said.

But despite the enormous challenges he faces in his bodybuilding sport, he called for support both financially and morally.

“I need support because training is not easy. Right now what I need is someone who can support me because as a bodybuilder, you need to eat good food along with supplements the body builders use. I cannot afford it.”

“I need help because many people know that I love this sport and I want to make it my career. We really need help like how other countries are doing it. We are very strong. I need to come first in this year’s competition. And I am training very hard to make sure I become champion in the competition,” he added.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba