Hands up if you know the difference between a Dandayamana Dhanurasana and an Ardha-Matsyendrasana.
The first is Sanskrit for standing bow-pulling pose. The other is spine-twisting pose. They’re required by the rules of three-minute Hatha yoga competitions. Yes, there is competitive yoga and its practitioners hope it will someday be an Olympic sport.
Canadian Yoga Federation president Brian Colwell, the owner of Bikram’s Yoga Metrotown, hosted the Western Canadian Championships January 22 at Vancouver’s South Hall. The Canadian federation seeks to unite with others of like mind and body around the world to gain recognition from the International Olympic Committee and then lobby to get into the Games.
We all know the path to enlightenment is neither smooth nor straight. There are only 28 sports in the Summer Olympics. Dozens more wait, wish and hope.
The 1989-founded, North Vancouver-based International Triathlon Union was once on the outside, looking in.
Triathlon debuted at Sydney 2000.
Yoga would be a natural fit if the Olympics were held someday in Delhi, India. But after the corruption-marred 2010 Commonwealth Games, that day may be far off.
Still, yoga practitioners offer a business case for their sport to be taken seriously. Statistics Canada estimates more than 1.4 million Canadians practise yoga.
Private yoga gyms are mushrooming in most urban retail areas (see “Striking profitable poses” – issue 1102; December 7-13, 2010).
Many clients sport purpose-made clothing by Vancouver-based Lululemon Athletica, which reported $452.9 million revenue for the last fiscal year.
The Vancouver Whitecaps are going to Nash-ville.
No, not Music City U.S.A., but the Valley of the Sun. Unless co-owner Steve Nash’s oft-rumoured trade to New York happens, he’ll be able to witness the newest Major League Soccer team’s training camp January 28-February 9 at Grande Sports World in Casa Grande, Arizona.
The Whitecaps will make a second appearance in Arizona and train in Washington state before opening the MLS season March 19 against Toronto FC at Empire Field. Don’t expect to see 17-year-old El Paso, Texan Omar Salgado in the home opener. FIFA’s minimum age for international transfer rules have a loophole for movement within the European Union and should be amended to respect the Canada/U.S. free-trade agreement. But the Whitecaps would need to lobby the Canadian Soccer Association and CONCACAF to coax a FIFA amendment.
Salgado won’t be needed to sell tickets if Robbie Savage gets inked. The flamboyant Welshman is a yellow card magnet (his 89 are a Premier League record).
He’s also a microphone magnet, known for his BBC radio and TV appearances. His 147,000 Twitter followers include many anxiously awaiting his transfer to the Whitecaps, whose co-owner Jeff Mallett is among Savage’s Derby County FC employers.
If media-savvy Savage comes to Canada’s wild west coast, he’ll make the Vancouver Canucks all seem like recluses.
The British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame is preparing for its return to BC Place Stadium. President Sue Griffin reports that 2,500 artifacts from the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics have been collected. They’ll be the centrepiece of a new Games gallery when the sports shrine tentatively reopens in early November.
Olympic champion snowboarder Maelle Ricker, Paralympic skiing champion Lauren Woolstencroft, Canucks’ legend Trevor Linden and lacrosse’s Gait twins Gary and Paul are the class of 2011.
The five British Columbians from the men’s Olympic gold-medal hockey team will be inducted under the team of the year banner at the September 13 Banquet of Champions.
In the meantime, Harbour Centre Tower’s Vancouver Lookout hosts the hall’s temporary winter sports exhibit. Mobile exhibits will be at Robson Square (February 11) and the Richmond Olympic Oval (February 12) to commemorate the 2010 Winter Olympics’ first anniversary.
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