Ahona Rahman, 19, of Rayhan Fitness Centre in the capital has become champion of Bangladesh’s first bodybuilding competition for women.

Bangladesh held it’s first-ever women’s bodybuilding competition at the National Sports Council Auditorium in the capital on Sunday. A total of 30 female participants participated in the contests.

In the competition, a strict dress code with a skintight suit for female participants was followed, said the organisers.

Skimpy bikinis are the norm at many international body-building contests, but the hosts brought changes in the dress code for women to avoid any controversy, they said.

‘We brought changes to the dress code to avoid controversy. We had to organise it with our own sets of rule for the conservativeness of our society,’ Bangladesh Bodybuilding Federation executive member Nurul Islam Khan told an English daily.

The purpose of the women’s competition is to create awareness about health, anti-ageing lifestyle and fitness alongside creating job opportunity for female in the relevant field, like educational institutions, sports organisations and at individual levels, he said.