Host supremacy: India dominated the standings with 114 medals, including 102 golds. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

One of the first things I noticed upon entering the EKA Arena, the venue of the World Yogasana Championship in Ahmedabad, was the striking contrast. While the event carried the energy and anticipation of any global sporting spectacle, complete with a vibrant multicultural opening ceremony, beneath the glare of the lights and the roar of the crowd there was a steely calm in the eyes of the participants — almost meditative, marked by unwavering focus and quiet confidence.

Once the athletes took the stage, the festive atmosphere gave way to one of intense concentration and composure. The arena seemed to oscillate between opposites: noise and silence, movement and composure, celebration and introspection. It was a convergence of multiple moods, each existing in perfect balance with the other. It was this balance that more than 500 athletes from nearly 80 countries sought to achieve over the course of the five-day event.

One couldn’t miss the historical significance of the occasion. Yogic traditions date back thousands of years, their roots stretching deep into the civilisational history of India. Yet here they were, presented within the framework of a modern world championship, complete with national teams, judges, rankings and medals. The competition felt less like a reinvention of the practice and more like an intersection of heritage and high-performance sports.

In its inaugural edition, the tournament, organised by Yogasana Bharat in association with World Yogasana and the Indian Olympic Association, arrived with a well-defined rulebook. A total of 250 asanas — selected from the millions described in traditional yogic scriptures — formed the basis of competition and were evaluated by a panel of judges against established technical and artistic criteria.

“Asanas can vary according to different texts and traditions, but we have referred to both ancient and modern sources,” said Umang Dawn, the event’s Competition Manager. “We have drawn from Patanjali’s texts, B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga, Asana Pranayama by Swamiji, and many other references. We are also standardising the names of certain asanas so that they are universally understood and linguistically accurate.”

Udit Sheth, President of Yogasana Bharat and Vice-President of World Yogasana, noted that the asanas performed at the event differed significantly from those commonly associated with the practice. “It’s not just touching your toes and doing a surya namaskar. It’s much more complex. What you see here is the pinnacle of what the human body can do,” he said.

Each event was overseen by a panel of 13 judges, including five primary judges. “They are known as key or difficulty judges,” Umang explained. “They evaluate each asana based on how accurately it is performed, how long it is held, and how smoothly and correctly the athlete enters and exits the posture. There is also an artistic judge, who assesses the quality of the athlete’s transitions from one posture to another and from one position on the performance area to another.”

This is where the Code of Points came into play. “Everything is in there — all the asanas, around 230 to 270 of them, their gradation, the rules, judging criteria, holding times, balance requirements, how to enter and exit an asana, and how performances are scored,” said Udit, adding: “Before the event, we conducted numerous training sessions with international coaches and athletes so that they fully understood the competition framework and expectations.”

The tournament represented one of the many steps towards fulfilling the larger vision of taking Yogasana to the biggest stage of all — the Olympics. With India’s bid to host the 2036 Games gathering momentum, Udit viewed the journey as a long build rather than a quick breakthrough. The ambition, he said, was scale — pursued “step by step” through federated systems, continental championships and television coverage.

“For Yogasana to grow globally, what will be required is a lot of education, a lot of coaches and a lot of technical officials,” said Udit. “We are relying on the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), the Ministry of External Affairs and our consulates in those countries. Then the road becomes structured. We have to make Yogasana sustainable, economically stable and economically rewarding to the ecosystem.”

For all the talk of global expansion, however, the competition underlined just how far ahead India remains in the sport’s development. The host nation finished atop the table with 114 medals, including 102 golds, followed by Japan that had three golds. Nepal finished second overall with 52 medals.

Chandrakant Mishra, chief coach of the Indian team, outlined the preparations behind the campaign. “We prepared for a month for this tournament, including a national camp in Ahmedabad. Due to our familiarity with both the practice environment and the climate, we had an advantage,” he said. That said, Mishra was quick to acknowledge the strengths of the competition. “The African athletes were more flexible than the Indians,” he noted. “Where they fell short was in skill and technique, despite possessing greater strength. The Jordanian and Sri Lankan teams also impressed.”

As routines ended, athletes held their final poses for a few moments longer before stepping off the mat. By the time the inaugural World Yogasana Championship drew to a close, they had left behind more than a medal table. Yogasana’s Olympic ambitions may still be years away, but at the EKA Arena, it looked determined to not lose its balance on the way there.

The author was at the event on invitation by World Yogasana and Yogasana Bharat.

Published on Jun 17, 2026