KURNOOL: Perhaps no one in Kurnool could flex muscles as perfectly as K. Sudhir, who has just bagged a silver medal at a pro qualifiers International Federation of Body Builders (IFBB) event held at Ludhiana.
Sudhir beat off competition from Iran, Iraq, Dubai and Indian participants. He caught the attention of the public after a video clip of him in an almost lonely, low-key celebration with his emotional wife went viral, highlighting the raw deal sportspersons performing in lesser known disciplines are handed in the country.
Mr Andhra in 2017, Sudhir got married on January 18 and his success at the IFBB (70 kg category) was a thrilling experience to the newly weds. It is the biggest platform for all the amateur athletes in India to turn into professionals and compete in the Mr Olympia event.
All those rippling muscles demand a good amount of exercise and diet. Every day, Sudhir sweats it out in the gym for four hours and consumes one kilogram of chicken, 20 egg whites, three kgs of boiled vegetables and a fair bit of leafy vegetables. During off-season he switches to a normal diet.
Sudhir hails from a village called Balapanur in Panyam mandal of Kurnool district. Born into a family of potters, sculpting the body came naturally to Sudhir as he saw his father Ram Bhagavan carve pots out of mud. Bhagavan wanted his son to become an engineer and lift the family out of poverty. “My father told me to build a career in Engineering. But I was interested in body building. Upset with my single minded pursuit, he said he could not support my sporting career,” says Sudhir, who joined the EEE course in an Engineering College in Nandyal but discontinued it.
His wife Aparna is his mentor now. She happens to be his niece with whom he was in love “but her parents refused to give her to me in marriage fearing I may not have dependable source of income to run the family.”
However, “Aparna stood firm in her resolve and we tied the knot on January 18,” Sudhir said.
Sudhir is also all praise for Harry Sandhu, his guru who lives in Australia. “His constant support and encouragement as well as tips on the best techniques involved in professional body building made me stronger and more confident. Whatever I have achieved is because of my guru Sandhu,” the bodybuilder says.
Now, he wants to showcase India’s muscle power to the world. “Winning a gold for the country in an international competition is my goal now. I want to put India on a pedestal at the international stage,” Sudhir says.
