India will again become a sporting nation in the next few years, Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev said here on Sunday.
Addressing a gathering at the 12 Isha Gramotsavam, a rural sporting festival, he said India had always been a sporting nation, but colonisation and thereafter poverty were the reasons for the nation losing its sporting culture.
About eight to 10 generations had lost the playfulness and joyous approach to life as most people were working to make ends meet. Now that the country had made economic progress to an extent, there would be a revival, he said. The foundation had taken steps to revive 25 of Tamil Nadu’s folk arts, he said.
Puducherry Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi said after the ‘Swachh Puducherry’ programme, she planned to take up the ‘Swast Puducherry’ (healthy Puducherry) programme and introduce sporting in a big way.
Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said sports helped people come together and break many barriers. Later, at CODISSIA grounds, Isha Foundation held the Isha Rejuvenation Cup 2016 finals – men’s volleyball and women’s throw ball in the evening.
Earlier in the day, it had conducted kabaddi, uri adi (hit the pot), silambattam (stick fight) and valukamaram (pole climbing).
