The Indian bodybuilding industry reached new heights on 21st July 2022 when former Mr. World Anuj Kumar Taliyan won gold in the 54th Asian, ABBF Championships in the 100kg+ category. Taliyan, who hails from a small village in churr, Meerut gives all of the credit for this new accolade to his coach M. Kamaraj and his wife and sponsor Absolute Nutrition who supported him in his rigorous training routine. The Madras Engineers Group Army officer beat Nitin Chandilla (Silver medallist) and Rajkumar (Bronze Medallist) and made the whole army and country proud.
Rajesh Chhabra, CEO, Absolute Nutrition and Anuj Kumar Taliyan, Mr. World, 100Kg+, WBPF, 2019
About Absolute Nutrition: Absolute Nutrition was conceptualized in 2013 with a vision to create health supplements that could compete on the global platform. Throughout their journey to create the purest and superior grade sports supplements, they also happened to work together with hundreds of aspiring athletes working towards the overall development of Bodybuilding sport in India.
Note from CEO ‘Rajesh Chhabra’
Other than some popular sports, there is no actual support in India for many aspiring athletes and one such example is the sport of bodybuilding. Just two years after our existence, we at Absolute decided that rather than spending hefty amounts on flashing advertisements, supporting raw athletes would bring pride to the Country and the Brand. Over the last seven years, we have supported more than 400 such aspiring athletes who have brought many national and international accolades and made our country proud.
One such success story is of a jaat from a small village in Meerut, belonging to a modest middle-class family, winning the most prestigious title of Mr. World in 2019 and recently grabbing gold in the 54th Asian championships held at the Maldives.
We are talking about Anuj Kumar Taliyan, an army havaldar from MEG ‘Madras Engineers Group’ aka Madras Sappers who has recently won a gold medal in the 100kg+ category of the 54th Asian Championships held in the Maldives.
The early story of Mr. Anuj Kumar Taliyan belonging to churr, Meerut is no different than any other Indian lower middle-class youth. Coming from a financially stringent background, Mr. Taliyan’s father and his brother (Shyamveer Taliyan) were the only bread earners in a family of 9 people. Anuj’s first love was Wrestling (Khushti) but it somehow changed to Bodybuilding as if the destiny writer knew that this small-town boy would one day create History.
Despite the struggling financial conditions, Anuj’s passion for the sport of bodybuilding was just beginning to ignite, same time he also aspired to join the Indian Army in the footsteps of his elder brother. This landed him at MEG, Bengaluru to give it a try and was lucky that a senior bodybuilding coach foresaw the thirst for winning in his eyes and allowed him to improvise and prove his might in the army.
Just one and a half years after joining the army, Taliyan hit his first attempt at showcasing greatness by snatching the title of Mr. Karnataka in the year 2012. Things got really thrilled when in the same year he exchanged poses with Senior Mr. India and got the overall 4th position.
Mr. Taliyan never forgot his roots and followed the mantra of no shortcuts. This sheer dedication and a stringent 6–8-hour daily workout routine helped him bag an all-services medal for the army and gold in Mr. India in the year 2016. These accolades only made him hungrier to be imagining himself standing at the world championships stage with the national anthem playing in the background and himself wrapped in the glimmering tricolor.
This was the time when Taliyan needed all the support to take his training to the next level and achieve greatness to the best of his potential. This is the time when Team Absolute met the young bodybuilding sensation and became a part of his journey by fulfilling his nutrition needs and giving him all kinds of support.
Soon after Anuj Kumar Taliyan’s journey began with Absolute Nutrition, he bagged Mr. India title again in the year 2018, Mr. Saraighat in the year 2019 and started his rigorous training for the world championship.
As per Mr. Taliyan, he used to consume around 4 kgs of Absolute Nutrition’s whey protein in a month and was on a high-carb diet via mass gainers during his preparation days. The hard work paid off and the underdog from the small town of Meerut held our national flag at the world championships.
In 2019, he bagged a gold medal in the 100kg+ category at the WBPF, world bodybuilding championships. This was the first legendary title that screamed to the world about the hard work and struggle of Anuj Kumar Taliyan.
The world heard him once and the world heard his scream once again on 21st July 2022 at the 54th Asian bodybuilding championships held in the Maldives where ‘Anuj Kumar Taliyan’ grabbed a Gold in the 100kg+ category.
This was the payoff of the sweat burnt over the last decade and gave a plethora of hope to crores of Indians that finally believed that if there is a sheer will with a determined mindset then nothing can stop you from achieving your true potential.
Team Absolute stands tall with this fantastic streak of a win by a proud Indian army officer. It’s a win for Team Absolute, It’s a win for India!
To watch The Story of World Champion Anuj Kumar Taliyan’ Please visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6OLcUhWxk4&t=826.