ahmedabad at a time when ahmedabad is all set to create world records on yoga day june 21 during the fourday event organized by yoga guru baba ramdev the vicechancellor of the countrys first yoga university lakulish university has written to prime minister narendra modi seeking his intervention to include yoga in the category of competitive sports modi had inaugurated the university in 2013chandrasinh jhala the vc of the yoga university has in his letter to modi dated june 7 stated the national school games and interuniversity competitions of yoga have created awareness among students we have also organized yoga olympiad as a part of international yoga day celebration last year so i would like to request that yoga should be included as competitive sports by sports ministry againjhalas letter also says there are four to five yoga federations in the country but none of them have been recognized they have not contributed to these yoga competitionsjhala adds sir there is one suggestion that the ministry of sports government of india itself should dominate the working committee or the board of yoga it will work as nationallevel federation if you are kind enough to agree with this idea then you should reintroduce yoga as competitive sportsthe letter goes on to urge india should take the lead in the world and in asianlevel competitions alsothe letter comes in the wake of the union governments confusion over whether to consider yoga as a competitive sport or noton september 1 2015 the union sports ministry had issued a circular categorizing yoga in sports disciplines later on december 21 2016 the sports ministry issued another circular stating that yoga cannot be termed as a sportthe december 21 circular stated vide this office letter dated september 1 2015 it was informed that yoga has been recognized as a sports discipline since grant of recognition it was brought to notice of the department that it may not be feasible to hold competition in yogathe circular added after elaborate discussion it was concluded that yoga has various dimensionsarms in which competitions are not possible hence it was agreed that yoga cannot be termed as a sportconsequently it may not be appropriate to recognize any organization as nsf national sports federation for yoga added the circular issued by a k patro undersecretary of the union government when contacted patro said i am unable to recall any such circularvijay goel union sports minister said basically there is a debate on this he said some want to include it in sports others dont yoga is related to breathing yogasanas can be included in sports but yoga cannot be included in sports said goel how will you count the breathing of those who compete until we come to a clarity on this issue how can we include yoga in sportswhen reminded that the gujarat government under modi had held a competitive event of yoga goel said it depends upon the level of the tournament we do not have any curriculum through