Tough road ahead for yoga as a sport

Gaurav Kanthwal

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 26

Yoga has been declared a “priority sport” by the Sports Ministry, which should boost the hope of the yoga associations to take the “sport” to the Olympics. However, the idea seems unrealistic as of now. Even the most ardent followers of yoga would admit that there is a long way to go before it can be included in the Olympics fold.

Sooner or later, there would be voices asking for yoga to be included in the Olympics programme. Since yoga is indigenous to India, the country can play a big role in this process. The central government has taken the lead by promising to fund the sport. That is why yoga has been included in the category of priority sports.

Yoga can exist without being an Olympics sport, but its inclusion would make it more popular, more competitive and more sporty.

Officials in the Indian government are of the view that the world is trying to find ways to move from illness to wellness. Medical sciences consider yoga as a great facilitator in this direction. Echoing this view, Onkar Kedia, joint secretary in the Sports Ministry, recently said: “It’s a tradition in India. It’s high time that yoga is seen as a sport.”

He added that the government is looking to take the sport a step forward. “We have to find out how to move forward. There has to be a federation to take it forward and many other steps will be taken. Things are under discussion,” he said.

However, there are many organisations which conduct various tournaments in India and claim to be ‘the federation’. The world over, many variants of yoga are practised by different sets of associations. The United States Yoga Federation (USA Yoga) claims to have 22 million people practising yoga as sport.

Yoga World Cup

USA Yoga founder Rajashree Choudhury claims to have formed that association for developing and promoting Yoga Asana as a sport only. It sponsors annual regional Yoga Asana competitions as well as a national competition in the US. The International Yoga Sports Federation, Uruguay, founded in 1989, claims that it organises six events in the “World Cup” every year.

Yoga Federation of India (YFI) secretary general Ashok Kumar Aggarwal said: “Our federation has furnished all the documents sought by the government. It would be too early to think of the Olympics. As of now, we will be happy if the athletes start getting the funds soon.”

Participants who have won medals in international competitions over the years are uncertain how the sport is run globally. Asked about the most accepted world body governing the sport, all of them were clueless, saying that they knew about their federation only.

Pinky Ghangas, 28, is an international medallist who has trained people in Sofia and Moscow. “There is no one recognised global body. Every organisation has its own competitions with different sets of rules,” she said. “The rules and regulations vary from a state-level competition to the national level and to the Asian Championship. I have competed in competitions affiliated to the YFI. Since it was recognised by the Haryana government, I believe it is recognised by the government of India too.”

Given the lack of recognised national and international federations, and ambiguity about rules and regulations of administering the competitions, there is no way forward to establish a ranking in this sport.

Road to Olympics

Without removing these roadblocks, yoga’s journey to the Olympics will hit a dead end soon. For a sport to be included in the Olympic Games, it must first be recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC); it’s a prerequisite for that sport to have an international federation which conducts a World Championship regularly. It must also be practised widely across the world and meet various criteria. If these conditions are met, yoga can be accepted as a demonstration sport in the Olympics.

The next step for the international federation would be to apply to the IOC for considering it as an Olympics sport.

The application must be made a minimum of six years before a scheduled Olympic Games. After that the IOC’s Olympic Programme Commission may recommend it to be added to the Games programme, if the IOC session approves it by a simple majority.

The procedure is cumbersome and there are other hassles too. One problem is that yoga is primarily an indigenous sport from India, a non-western country which does not have a big clout in the IOC politics.

Then, yoga postures are low on the thrill quotient, and it is not a spectator-friendly sport. It also remains to be seen how yoga would fare with the complexities of TV production.

Judging participants in yoga is as complicated as performing complex asanas. Sports such as gymnastics, diving and synchronised swimming face difficulties in judging participants objectively and accurately, and yoga finds itself in the same boat.

‘Sthira sukham asanam’ — which roughly translates as “postures should be stable and comfortable” — is the guiding principle for the referees in a yoga competition.

Subjective judging

Referee Gautam Joshi said, “Such situations rarely arise in the national competitions. To counter the subjectivity, grace has been allotted two points, calmness one point. The completion of a posture is awarded maximum points (5). If there is no stability, the referee can easily make out that there is no calmness and the participant cannot maintain the posture.”

The YFI says it conducts regular clinics to train the referees and judges, and that the judges and referees in the nationals are highly competent. There is no scope for bias or someone getting an unfair advantage, according to the YFI.

Budding yoga practitioner Vandana said, “Most of the times we do realise how well we’ve done. Even before the judges display the marks, we know how we have fared and where we stand in the competition. In sports where the artistic aspect is more, there is bound to be some subjectivity. We cannot do much about that. It is better to improve your performance rather than complaining.”

These difficulties and challenges must be overcome. The first step towards making yoga a competitive sport at the international level would be to make it an established sport in India.

Young yoga practitioners believe that yoga as a sport has a bright future. Jamshedpur-based yoga practitioner Anusha Karmakar, 16, said: “Gymnastics has a huge following. I don’t see why yoga will not get the eyeballs. Besides, Yoga Dance can be added as an event to make it more popular.”