His Excellency Vipul, the Consul General of India in Dubai, has promised another grand show to celebrate the International Day of Yoga next month following his meeting with Dubai Sports Council (DSC).
Mr Vipul met HE Saeed Hareb, the Secretary General of DSC, and HE Nasser Aman Al Rahma, the Assistant Secretary General of DSC, to talk about the preparations for the fourth International Day of Yoga, which will be celebrated on June 21. They also discussed plans to work together on a few other community sport events in the coming period.
"We are proud that we were the first city in the world to organise events to mark the International Day of Yoga in 2015 and we are pleased to see how the event has grown since," said Mr Hareb. "In 2016, famed yoga guru, Baba Ramdev, attended the celebrations and last year more than 25,000 took part in the different activities across the emirate to mark the day.
"Now, we are looking forward to celebrating the fourth edition of the International Day of Yoga. We meeting with His Excellency the Consul General of India in Dubai and we have got some exciting plans for the celebrations this year."
Yoga is an ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice that symbolises the union of body and consciousness. It originated in India but is now popular across the globe and recognising its universal appeal, the United Nations proclaimed June 21 as the International Day of Yoga on December 11, 2014.
The following year, Dubai became the first city in the world to organise events to commemorate the International Day of Yoga.
"We have organised some very big events in Dubai to celebrate the occasion in the past three years," said HE Vipul. "Dubai was the first city to support us and we have worked in partnership with Dubai Sports Council to make the celebrations a grand affair every year.
"This year again, we are looking to organise another big Yoga Day. We have lots of exciting plans and we will talk about them in time.
"We are in the midst of finalising the venue for the main event. There are various options that are before us and, God willing, we will put up a big event."
In 2015, more than 13,000 people turned up at Al Wasl Sports Club to take part in the activities that marked the first International Day of Yoga. Twelve months later, the main event was held inside the air-conditioned halls of Dubai World Trade Centre and more than 20,000 people took part with Baba Ramdev leading the throng.
Last year, the International Day of Yoga celebrations attracted even more participants with events being held across Dubai, including Zabeel Park and around 72 private schools in the emirate.
"Once again, we will be requesting schools to participate," added HE Vipul. "We are also reaching out to the other emirates, so that we can organise one main event here apart from other smaller events in other emirates.
"The vision is to get everyone to do yoga and to create awareness about its benefits and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle itself."
HE Vipul also revealed they are in discussion with Dubai Sports Council to organise other events as well. "We are very happy and grateful for the support we get from the authorities, whether it be KHDA or Dubai Sports Council," he said. "It is really important for us that Dubai Sports Council is onboard with us for the International Day of Yoga and we are looking forward to extending this unique partnership by collaborating on more initiatives and events.
"We also want to increase our community outreach programmes in the labour camps and we have had discussions with Dubai Sports Council on how we could work together to do that. We are excited about the discussions we've had and we are looking forward to signing off on some of those plans."
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