Here’s batting for the mat

Gaurav Kanthwal

English Premier League great Ryan Giggs does it without fail. NBA icon LeBron James is addicted to it. Maria Sharapova’s day begins with it. Shane Warne, an avowed couch potato, was also hooked on to it. It is no secret that the day of a large number of professional athletes starts after routine yoga asanas have loosened themselves up for the arduous grind ahead.

Some practice it to revitalise their bodies, some to energise, others practice it to attain an optimum balance of body and soul. In the western world, this ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice has become a big fad but are Indian athletes warming up to it?

It took coach John Wright, a New Zealander, to extol the virtues of yoga to the Indian cricketers. The sight of an Indian athlete practising yoga is indeed rare in the Indian national camps. Dig deeper and you get the half-comic-half apologetic refrain: “Yoga se kya hoga!” Come down to the domestic level, the excuses degrade to the level of ignorance. “It is good only for those with creaky old bones… Isn’t it a girly thing? It is a sport for lazy types only…”

The International Yoga Day, being celebrated on June 21, will not only help in embedding the message of general health among people, it is expected to shake Indian sportspersons out of their lethargy. Professional athletes in India, irrespective of their discipline, need to know that yoga is a hip thing now. Currently, the exceptions are few and far between. Archers, shooters and gymnasts are among the very small community of international athletes who practice yoga regularly. 

Compound archer Trisha Deb says, “During conditioning camps, we have a regular session of yoga. There has been a marked difference in the performance of Indian archers after yoga was inculcated in our training.” Many successful international cricketers are known to follow yoga regularly. Virat Kohli is one such avid follower of yoga. “Yoga is a wonderful discipline. It makes you feel confident and competitive,” he believes.

But how many basketball players, domestic footballers or hockey players practise yoga, is any body’s guess.

Experts believe that yoga could be extremely beneficial to the Indian hockey players who are known to buckle in the dying minutes of the game. “It is a combination of physical and mental fatigue. We have specific exercises to fortify an individual’s being,” said Pinky Ghanghas, 29, an international yoga instructor and multiple gold medallist in Asian Yogasna Championships.

The benefits of yoga are on everyone’s lips these days, but not many Indian sportspersons are aware that yoga has a direct correlation to performance in sports that involve running. A regular yoga practice stretches the strained and shrunk muscles around shoulders, hips, knees and ankles, thereby easing fluid and free movement. As a result, there is an efficient transference of power and movement through the core of the body.

Take for example football, a sport that demands aggression, explosive energy as well as suppleness and flexibility on the field. Yoga instructors these days have chalked out a set of postures that are specifically beneficial to the footballers. English Premier League footballers such as David Silva, Joe Hart and Rio Ferdinand were quick to recognise the benefits of yoga and were able to prolong their careers by employing professional yoga instructor Sarah Ramsden.

  “It is a must for those doing regular sport like running, cycling, triathlon or football. Gymnastics, more or less, is yoga,” says Amandeep Kaur, an international yoga instructor. 

  At a time when top notch athletes are relying on yoga to deliver peak performance consistently on the international stage, Indian sportspersons, coaches and the sports authorities can not afford to look the other way. A good beginning to it would be by declaring yoga as a recognised sport by the Indian Olympics Association (IOA).