The death of Abbas al-Hindawi, a myth of bodybuilding in Iraq

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Sports circles in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Thursday mourned the international bodybuilding athlete Abbas Al-Hindawi, after a struggle with illness.

The Iraqi Central Body Building Federation said: It offers condolences and sympathy to the Iraqi, Arab and international sports street, under its leadership and members, on the death of the immortal legend, the spiritual father of bodybuilding in Iraq, Abbas Al-Hindawi, who passed away shortly before in a hospital in Sulaymaniyah.

Al-Hindawi is considered one of the most prominent bodybuilders in Iraq, during the past decades, as he won dozens of local and Arab championships.

Between 1961 and 1988, Al-Hindawi won the title of champion of Asia 11 times, and the title of champion of the Middle East eight times, in addition to the title of champion of Iraq for all groups every year during that period, and also ranked fourth in the world five times for the years (1970- 1971-1972-1976).

In 1993, the Iraqi international player supervised the training of the Jordanian national team and won the Arab championship, then moved to Kuwait in 1998 to train the Kuwaiti national team and contributed to its development and building a number of teams.

In 2003, Al-Hindawi moved to the Emirates and had an active contribution to establishing teams in the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, and was able to create an important and strong team through which he was able to win the Arab Bodybuilding Championship in 2006 and the world title in 2007, where the UAE hosted the World Championship.

Al-Hindawi is called the spiritual father of bodybuilding in Iraq, as he trained a large number of players and brought them to advanced ranks, as well as his management and participation in establishing a number of clubs for the game, in addition to writing specialized exercises for those interested.