Odisha is hosting India’s first Physical National Yogasana Championships from November 11-13 in Bhubaneswar, organised by the state government in association with the National Yogasana Sports Federation (NYSF). Over 500 bright and young Yogasana Sports athletes from across 30 states would participate in this path-breaking event.

In its endeavour to create a global brand of Yogasana as a competitive sport with high standards and benchmarks and supporting India’s vision to make Yogasana as a sport with an Olympic Roadmap, the NYSF is consistently building a strong culture of fitness, competition, well-being, and growth through the practice and development of Yogasana. Yoga has been at the heart of wellness globally and to ensure that our youth understand and appreciate Yoga, we have now packaged Yogasana as Sport and learning from Kabaddi and Cricket, said National Yogasana Sports Federation in a press statement. “Sports has always been a priority sector for Odisha Government and under the leadership of visionary Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, the state has taken significant strides for the development and promotion of Sports. Today the world has recognized the state as India’s Sporting Capital. Our efforts are directed towards creating a holistic ecosystem that benefits sport and its athletes and nurtures a unique Indian sports culture amongst the youth. We are investing significantly in developing and upgrading our sports infrastructure,” Odisha Sports Minister, Tusharkanti Behera said.

The Sports Minister further said that Yoga has become increasingly popular in recent years and is one of the most popular and trending forms of exercise in the world. “This is the time for India to take Yogasana (Yoga postures) as a competitive sport on the global sports stage. Inspired by the great success of nurturing Indian hockey and other indigenous sports, now we see huge potential in promoting and nurturing Yogasana as a Sport. We are confident that India’s first Physical National Yogasana Championships organized by NYSF in Bhubaneswar will be a step forward in producing the next generation of world-class Yogasana athletes and talents,” Sports Minister said.

Yogasana sport for both male and female categories has been included in Khelo India Youth Games, 2021. The Government of India’s recognition makes NYSF eligible for financial assistance for the conduct of national championships in all the categories, viz. Senior, Junior, and Sub-junior and participation in international sporting events. Addressing the need to create a global brand of Yogasana as Sports Udit Sheth, President, NYSF said, “We are grateful to the unrelenting support of the Govt of Odisha towards taking sport and Yogasana forward. With this first championship on-ground, we are all poised to create great coaches, curriculum and electronic scoring systems to benefit our sport in India and globally. At this first championship, we are expecting to create a points and ranking system with a great competitions calendar for our athletes. Soon more exciting competition formats are to be announced for the sport. We from the Yogasana fraternity would like to thank the vision of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for recognizing Yogasana as a competitive sport.”

NYSF Secretary-General Dr Jaideep Arya while emphasising on popularising Yogasana as a sport, he said, “As the dynamic world demands a healthy and fit future generation, it is high time for the sports communities across the globe to recognize and popularize Yogasana as a sport. NYSF is committed to promoting and maintaining a high standard of Yogasana as a competitive sport across the country. The formats that have been introduced will make the Asanas entertaining to view and hence expand the fan and spectator base for Yogasana as a sport. Being a cost-effective sport to train, participate and organise is enabling rapid expansion across the country. We are excited and grateful to work with Odisha Govt, that has been working tirelessly to support this first championship.” NYSF, which was formed in December 2020 and successfully launched the first National Yogasana Championships in a short span of 3 months. NYSF is working with a vision to build and market the brand of Yogasana through sustainable and scalable development and a competition structure that benefits the athletes, officials, and the sport. The Federation is on the mission to gain an athlete-base across 600 districts building the brand value of more than 1000 Crore in the next 5 years. (ANI)

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