Pole position From India, via circuses, to recognised sport?

A mixture of dance and acrobatics, pole dancing can be traced to 12th century India, where a form of gymnastics, mallakhamb, is described in a Sanskrit text written by a regional king.

In its modernday form, pole dancing gained popularity from circus performances. And, by the Fifties, it became a staple in stripclubs.

More recently, there has been a campaign to recognise the event as a sport.