If ever a man could be called beautiful and still remain so masculine it has to be bodybuilder Sazali Samad, who recently won his third Mr Universe title in Ostrava in the Czech Republic. 

 Flexing the muscles that have won him fame, he exudes a pleasant and friendly charm in publicity shots. 

And probably the only thing about Sazali's physique that's less impressive when meeting him face to face is that he looks a bit shorter. His power-packed bulk seems to add on a couple of inches to his frame and enhances his photogenic quality.

 "That's true. I've been told that I look much taller than my 165cm in photos," he says as he whips out his calling card bearing a picture of himself in a bodybuilding pose.

 Born and brought up in Batu Pahat in Malaysia, Sazali was scrawny as a teenager and never imagined that he would one day become involved in bodybuilding, let alone win the amateur Mr Universe title a total of three times. He was also crowned Mr Universe in 2000 (Kuala Lumpur) and 2004 (Moscow).

 It all started when he moved to Kuala Lumpur and got a job running errands as an office boy. On one of the errands he discovered a gymnasium at the police headquarters. "I had been fascinated with bodybuilding for a while and admired former Malaysian bodybuilding champion Malek Noor," he says.

Sazali joined the gym and soon ran into police officer Roslan Ahmad, who was a regular. Roslan sized up the pint-sized hopeful and made a prediction on the spot that he would one day be a bodybuilding champion.

 "I thought he knew what he was talking about because he said I had a good body structure," muses Sazali.

 It turned out that Sazali's first impressions were accurate: Roslan had been a bodybuilding champion himself back in the '60s.

 "I spoke to him just recently after a long absence. He congratulated me on winning again," says a smiling Sazali.

 Sazali, now a sergeant in the police force, entered his first competition - the Mr Malaysia contest - in 1991, and won in the flyweight category.

 Since then, barring a few minor setbacks, his career has taken off. Besides the Mr Universe titles, he has also been crowned Mr Asia five times.

 His strongest support comes from his family, especially is wife. Hashrine Hashim, 36, always makes an effort to be by his side whenever he competes. When he won the Mr Asia title for the first time in 1996 in New Delhi, India, Hashrine was there, lending him moral support. And for other, more selfish reasons, too.

"He told me that he'd only get married once he'd won the title and sure enough, he kept his promise," says the soft spoken Hashrine.

 Hashrine says she doesn't mind his obsession with the sport since it was an activity that he picked up before she met him. The couple actually met 15 years ago in a gymnasium in Kuala Lumpur.

The family is close-knit and Sazali tries to spend as much time as possible with them when he is in Malaysia. The couple have been married for nine years, and have three boys, and, the latest addition to the family, a seven-month-old baby girl. Whenever Sazali competes overseas, Hashrine confides, the phone bill climbs.

And it wasn't good news on the phone from Doha earlier this month, where Sazali was a contender for the 65-kilogram category of the bodybuilding competition in the Asian Games. A controversial decision saw him lose the gold to Mohamed Salem Abdulla Zahmi of the United Arab Emirates. 

As a bodybuilder, Sazali has to observe a strict diet, avoiding salt, sugar and oily foods prior to competitions. Eating up to 30 eggs a day is not unusual for him, and he also takes vitamins and supplements to maintain his form.

 "It is an expensive sport to be involved in because you need to maintain your body carefully," he says.

 At home, Hashrine helps him to stick to his diet, making sure not to add salt and sugar to the food she cooks for him.

"When we go out to eat, food vendors always find it strange that he doesn't want any salt in his food," says Hasrine, chuckling.

But the muscleman still manages to indulge on his days away from the gym. "If there's no competition, you'll find me tucking in to all my favourite foods - nasi lemak, ayam percik and mee goreng," Sazali smiles.