A team from the United States is going to be among the competitors for the June World Yogasana Championship event to be held in India.
On May 30, the Indian Consulate in New York welcomed members of the United States Yogasana team. Deputy Consul General Vishal J. Harsh met with the members and wished them good luck as they head to the first championship of its kind which will be held from June 4-8 in Gujarat.
Teams from at least 75 countries are expected to take part in the competition which is intended to take yoga to the next level as a sport. Organized by the World Yogasana federation and backed by India’s Ministry of Ayush, the teams will “test a 5,000-year-old tradition under standardized rules of precision, balance, flexibility, and degree of difficulty,” the website Yogajala.com noted.
It is part of Prime Minister’s long-standing effort to make yoga an Olympic sport. Competitors will be judged on four official categories — Traditional, Artistic, Rhythmic, and Athletic Yogasana. Teams will be marked on a scale similar to Olympic ballet performances, on how their routines measure up in terms of classical postures based on alignment, hold time, transitions and level of difficulty, Yogajala.com noted.
