Yoga followers in the country have a reason to rejoice, as the government on Tuesday decided to recognize yoga as a sports discipline and put it in the priority category.
"It has further been decided to recognize yoga as a sports discipline and to place it in the priority category," a sports ministry release said.
Yoga will now be eligible for government grants and could be included as a competitive sport at the national level in the future.
The sports ministry reviewed the categorization of various disciplines and also revised the scale of financial assistance admissible to each category, which was further conveyed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and all National Sports Federations.
According to the ministry criteria, a sport should be part of the Olympics, Asian Games or Commonwealth games and the country should compete globally in the discipline to get a ‘priority’ status. However, yoga is an exception to the rule, states a report by The Indian Express.
Yoga could also be made part of the National Games and the Yoga Federation of India could expect to receive more funding to conduct its national championships and host international events, adds the report.
“Yoga as a sport can create plenty of jobs and even in terms of fitness, it will help to create awareness. Most of the sports persons already practice yoga. So it’s logical to have it as a sport,” a ministry official told the paper said.
Also, based on the past performance in major international events, it was also decided to upgrade fencing from others to general category. It was also decided to place university sports in the priority category.
With inputs from IANS