As an active competitor, he won Bulgaria's first weightlifting medal in 1957.

He also spent a stint as the head Coach of the Turkish Weightlifting Federation during the late 1990s.

Olympic champions under the leadership of Abadjiev are: for Bulgaria - Norair Nurikyan, Yordan Bikov, Andon Nikolov (Munich 1972), Yordan Mitkov, Norair Nurikyan (Montreal 1976), Yanko Rusev, Asen Zlatev (Moscow 1980), Sevdalin Marinov, Borislav Gidikov (Seoul 1988), Galabin Boevski (Sydney 2000); for Turkey - Halil Mutlu, Naim Suleymanoglu (Atlanta 1996).

He was familiar with the works of Soviet Professor Felix Meerson.

This biographical article relating to weightlifting in Bulgaria is a stub.