The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president and former Indian ace athlete, PT Usha, opined that the inclusion of yoga as a sport in the Asian Games will be the first step in taking yoga to the Olympics.
In a letter to the president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Raja Randhir Singh, Usha said that the inclusion of yoga in the Asian Games will be a shot-in-the-arm in India’s quest to raise the popularity of yoga across the world.
Usha opined that the time is ripe for yoga to be included in the multi-nation games as people have embraced yoga and drawn benefits, especially after the International Day of Yoga was celebrated on June 21.
She urged the continent’s sports community to include yoga in the Asian Games programme. “The world celebrated the 10th International Day of Yoga on June 21 and the response to its universal has been overwhelming. People across nations have embraced yoga and drawn benefits,” Usha said, in the letter.
The legendary Indian athlete said it was important for India to lead the efforts to have yoga included in the biggest stage in the world. “I am confident that as the spiritual home of yoga and as Vishwaguru, India can campaign for the inclusion of the sport in the Asian Games and eventually the Olympic Games as well,” she added.
As the 2024 Paris Olympics draw close, it is pertinent to note that the Louvre Museum in Paris will offer visitors a chance to take part in yoga sessions with instructors assisting them.
Usha took up the same example and said that the union sports minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, was very encouraging and appreciative of the idea to make a case for yoga in the Asian Games. “He (sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya) told me that he sees the inclusion in the Asian Games as the first step in taking the sport to the Olympics. We need our indigenous sport to be on such platforms,” Usha concluded in the letter.
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