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July 28, 2019 Sunday 09:18:21 PM IST

Yoga Asanas To Be Recognised As Sport, May Be Included in Olympics

Yoga Asana may be recognised by India Government as a sport and in due course may be included as an event in Olympics by 2036 or 2040, according to PN Ranjit Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt of India.National Board for Promotion and Development of Yoga and Naturopathy has recommended recognizing yoga asanas (poses) as a sporting activity. This was revealed during the 6th India Wellness Conclave 2019-Nurturing the Wellness Industry for a Healthier and Happier India, organised by FICCI.
"Yoga asanas (not yoga) should be recognized as a sport. We are hopeful that yoga asana will be accepted as a sport and maybe by the time we have the Olympics in 2036 or 2040, this will be an item there," he said, adding there were very few sports of eastern, Asian or Indian origin in the international sports arena.
With India targeting to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024, Mr Kumar said that the contribution of Wellness industry is poised to be $50 billion at current growth rate. However, we should aim for a faster growth to make it $100 billion industry and centre of new India growth story, he added.
Highlighting yoga was gaining popularity world over, Mr Kumar said that while there were 85 lakhs people who participated on the International Day of Yoga in 2016, it rose to 2.8 crore in 2017, 9.5 crore in 2018 and 13 crore in 2019 as per the provisional figures.
"These are people who follow the yoga protocol on their own without compulsion. It's not about yoga. It's about wellness, about maintaining one?s own health, taking care of self and about a happier India," he said. The government is setting up Naturopathy Certification Board on the lines of Yoga Certification Board, he added.