Hyderabad bodybuilder Venkatesan Karuppanan will compete in two international natural bodybuilding events in the United States this month, the first of them in California on November 6 and 7. The 49-year-old is chasing another gold after a strong run at home in the Los Angeles championship last week.

Two competitions, one month, one city-bred athlete

Karuppanan will first take part in the INBA PNBA Pro/Am World Cup in California, scheduled from November 6 to 7. From there, he moves on to the Pinnacle Pro/Am Natural Olympia championship in Las Vegas, which runs from November 12 to 15.

Both events are natural bodybuilding contests, which means the athletes compete without performance-enhancing drugs. The organisers test competitors, and Karuppanan explained the process in detail. He said the athletes are tested under IOC standards, and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) administers urine and blood testing.

For a Hyderabad athlete, the schedule is a serious jump in competition level. It is also a test of consistency, because the second event arrives only days after the first.

The Los Angeles result that opened the door

Karuppanan’s invitation follows a strong performance at the Natural Mr World Championship in Los Angeles last week. He won gold in the Classic Bodybuilding category and finished third overall in the championship.

That overall podium finish carried extra weight. He was the only athlete from India to win a medal at the event, which makes his result stand out on a field that drew competitors from abroad.

Why this matters for Hyderabad

Hyderabad rarely sees its athletes carry the city’s name onto a global natural bodybuilding stage with this kind of result. Karuppanan’s trip puts the city and the country in front of judges and fans in California and Las Vegas, two of the most closely watched venues in the sport. For local fitness enthusiasts, his path offers a clear example of what sustained training and discipline can achieve beyond national borders.

The support behind the trip also has a local face. Karuppanan said he is sponsored by Mr. Kumar Mannava, co-founder of THE ONE Fitness Studio in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad. He thanked his backer for the generous support that made the trip possible.

Discipline, diet and jet lag

Karuppanan framed the invitation as a personal milestone and a national one at the same time. He spoke about representing his country on a global stage and tied the opportunity to years of work.

It is a great honour and privilege for me to receive this international invitation and represent my country on a global platform. This opportunity reflects my dedication, discipline, hard work and commitment to natural bodybuilding.

He also pointed to the practical hurdles of competing abroad. Karuppanan said it is a huge challenge to be a vegan in the US, where finding suitable food is difficult. He added that training after long-haul flights and jet lag brings its own problems.

Those challenges are easy to overlook from the outside. Preparing for a contest means managing diet, sleep and recovery, and the travel schedule here leaves little room for error. Karuppanan has to adjust to a new time zone and a new food environment within days of stepping off the plane, and then step on stage.

What comes next

The next news will come from the stage. The California event on November 6 and 7 opens the run, and the Las Vegas championship from November 12 to 15 will test whether his form holds across two contests in quick succession.

Karuppanan is not promising anything beyond the work itself. His own words make the goal clear: he is competing to represent India well and to keep building on a career that has already produced a gold medal and a podium finish this season.

For Hyderabad, that is reason enough to watch. A local athlete is heading into two of the most important natural bodybuilding events of the year, and every result from here will count toward the city’s growing list of sporting pride.