National Yoga Sports Championships being held at Moodbidri

Mangalore Today News Network

Moodabidri, Jan 13, 2016 : Different facets of Yoga were seen when participants showcased their skills during the five-day National Yoga Sports Championship, which commenced on Jan 11,  Monday. It is also an exhibition of traditional yoga postures but also presentation of ancient skill in an artistic and rhythmic manner that can be seen on the premises of Alva’s College at Vidyagiri in Moodbidri.

Nearly 16,000 young and old yoga practitioners from 30 States are taking part in the championship being jointly organised by the Yoga Federation of India, the Karnataka State Amateur Yoga Sports Association and the Sri Patanjali Yoga Shikshana Prathistana.

The participants range from eight-year-old boys and girls to 35-year-old men and women. As many as 400 officials are judging their performance.  The best performers in the championship will represent the country in the World Yoga Championship and the Asian Yoga Championship.

The events started with an exhibition of asanas in a traditional form by participants who were classified in the 8-11 years, 11-14 years, 14-17 years and over-35 categories. The participants in this national event are toppers in the respective State-level championships.

Each one of the participants in this round was given five minutes to present 10 asanas.  Following this round was the round involving the artistic presentation of yogasanas.

The rhythmic yoga, a competition to present asanas to a music, will be held on January 13 between 11.30 a.m. and 4 p.m.  Most participants are from the State. And, 14 from the Patanjali Yoga Shikshana Kendra in Mangaluru have been given wild card entry. 

Ashok Kumar Aggarwal, secretary-general of Yoga Federation of India, said that the Union government has given a boost to Yoga by recognising it as a sport this year.   Those participating in the national yoga championship will get benefits that sportsmen taking part in national sports events normally get.