Bhubaneswar gears up to host the country’s first National Yogasana Championships

Bhubaneswar: After getting the prestigious recognition of India’s sporting capital and creating new success milestones for Indian Hockey and other indigenous sports, Odisha is now aiming high to become the global stage for nurturing Yogasana as India’s Heritage Sport to the world. Organised by the National Yogasana Sports Federation (NYSF), in association with the Govt. of Odisha; India’s first Physical National Yogasana Championships from 11th to 13th November 2021 in Bhubaneswar has been declared.

Over 500 bright and young Yogasana Sports athletes from across 30 states will participate in this path breaking event. In its endeavour to create a global brand of Yogasana as Competitive Sport with high standards and benchmarks and supporting India’s vision to make Yogasana as a sport with an Olympic Roadmap, the National Yogasana Sports Federation (recognised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India) 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.

“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. 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 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.” said Sports Minister, Odisha State Government, Tusharkanti Behera.

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 to be announced for the sport. We from the Yogasana fraternity would like to thank the vision of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recognizing Yogasana as a competitive sport.”

Jaideep Arya, Secretary General, NYSF said, “As the dynamic world demands for 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 (Yoga postures) 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.”

Formed in December 2020, NYSF has significantly and rapidly gained momentum 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 five years.