Mr Abdul Hay Yartey, President for Ghana Bodybuilding and Fitness Association (GBFA) has said his outfit will participate in four major events before the end of 2019.

According to Mr. Yartey, the activities include two international and two local events, aimed at keeping the bodybuilders in good shape.

Mr. Yartey said, a local event dubbed “Beach Body Flex”, which is the first of its kind in Ghana would take place at the Labadi Beach in July and it is aimed at getting bodybuilders to exhibit their flair skills at the beach.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, Mr. Yartey said, “in July we would have a new a competition called Beach Body Flex that would take place at Labadi Beach.

“This would help the team prepare for the African Bodybuilding Championship in later in the year in Angola.

“Then there would be the Dubai Bodybuilding Championship slated from November 2019, which would be crowned with the biggest championship in Ghana on December 7, 2019 serving as the qualifier into the Black Muscles team for 2020 and beyond”.

Mr. Yartey, who expressed appreciation to the National Sports Authority (NSA) at a press conference at the Accra Sports Stadium on Tuesday for their support during the participation of the national bodybuilding team, the Black Muscles to partake in the just ended Arnold Classics held in Johannesburg, South Africa said the team had always performed well in such competitions and they were looking forward to more success in other international events.

“We are here today to give a brief account of the Arnold classic. With ten days to our departure we called on the media to help us raise awareness about the sport and to help raise sponsorships.

“Our message went well and the NSA assisted us with three flight tickets, which we are very grateful, though it wasn’t enough, we went and had a successful event".

Mr. Vincent Pearce Edwards, Technical Director, GBFA noted that the association had a lot to do for the young and willing athletes, but would need support and funding to achieve that.

“We have plans of introducing the sport in the inter-schools sporting activities and we believe that with time, it would rule sports in Ghana with a little push from corporate Ghana and individuals as well as government,” he stated.

The GBFA presented nine athletes, with eight winning medals at this year’s Arnold Classics, held in South Africa with over 35 countries around the world competing.