Thousands take part in Yoga Day events in Oman
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Thousands of people from all walks of life in the Sultanate took part in a grand yoga session organised in Muscat by the Embassy of India to celebrate the 4th International Day of Yoga.
Some 5,000 persons, including people from Oman, members of the Indian community, members of other expatriate communities, diplomatic corps and students took pat in the event held at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The session began with the address of the Prime Minister of India. There were elderly persons, aged over 80 years, and also children as young as 5 years.
In organising its grand yoga session, the embassy was supported by the Government of Oman, which was represented by Mohammed Yousuf Qasim Al Zarafi, Under Secretary for Administration and Finance Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who joined the yoga session as its Chief Guest. The Government of Oman also made available the venue at a nominal cost.
Indian Social Club, Oman, and its 27 wings, Indian Schools in Muscat and 16 yoga organisations, including the Art of Living, extended their full support in motivating people from all walks of life and communities to join the session. Almost all the yoga organisations, teachers, experts and enthusiasts from Muscat were present. Times FM, the media partner, broadcast the celebration live. It had earlier helped in publishing the event.
Other print and audio-visual media based in Muscat also covered the yoga session. A number of Indian enterprises contributed in making various logistical arrangements and providing yoga mats and T-shirts.
The celebration was not confined to Muscat. The 4th International Day of Yoga 2018 was also celebrated in other cities in Oman, such as Sur, Sohar, and Salalah. Held on June 21, the celebrations were the culmination of a series of yoga sessions, workshops and seminars, which were organised in the run-up by various yoga organisations and Indian schools in Oman, in cooperation with the embassy.
Many of these yoga sessions were held in the multi-purpose Hall of the Embassy and on Embassy lawns. With a view to provide encouragement to various Yoga organisations in Oman to continue with their efforts to promote Yoga in Oman, Ambassador Shri Indra Mani Pandey, and other officers of the embassy, participated in these sessions.