About

Yoga Sports are athletic competitions demonstrated by the beauty of demanding yoga postures and through the dedication, endurance and unyielding determination of the competitors. IYSF is working with several Yoga Federations around the world, to develop Yoga Sports in to an official Olympic Sport. Increased awareness of the sport of Yoga Asana will encourage existing practitioners to sharpen their skills through training, dedication, and devotion to the sport, and will inspire new practitioners.



IYSF is the international governing body for the sport of Yoga Asana worldwide. Rajashree Choudhury founded IYSF in 2003 in the city of Los Angeles, CA, USA. IYSF aims to govern this organization with the sole mission of promoting, unifying, and increasing interest in Yoga Asana globally.

IYSF promotes the discipline of Yoga Asana and encourages yoga practitioners of all lineages, all ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds, to participate at a competition level. IYSF works closely with national member federations across the globe.

Currently, IYSF oversees the following areas of the sport of Yoga Asana:

administration, regulation, structure, organization, hosting and award of fair international competition
Education for coaches and judges, including development and interpretation of a uniform set of rules
Coordination, marketing, and promotion of the annual World Yoga Asana Championships

Yoga is a holistic health system with Indian roots stretching back 5,000 years. IYSF seeks to generate awareness of Yoga among all nations as it relates to culture, education, and knowledge on a sporting basis.

The sport of Yoga Asana aims to further human excellence as it promotes health and well being on both the individual and universal levels.

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Champions

2018

Almania Columbo
Italy
Adults – Women
Jade Theisen Avalon
United States
Youth – Girls
Henry Winslow
United States
Adults – Men
Michelle Vennard
United States
Senior Women
Thomas Forbang
United States
Senior Men
Davide Toneguzzi
Italy
Youths – Boys
John Shoggins
United States
Gloria Suen
United States
Zeb Homison
United States
Jared McCann
United States
Gloria Suen
Singapore
Yukari Miwa
Japan
Joseph Encinia
United States
Brandy Lynn
United States
Courtney Mace
United States
Dev Kapil
Singapore
Alisa Matthews
United States
Cynthia Wehr
United States
Ky Ha
United States
Ashley Hooper
United Hooper
Jonny Mauk
United States
Huiping Mo
China
Esak Garcia
United States
Lesli Lounsbury
United States

Executive Committee

Rajashree Choudhury

president

Born in Kolkata, India in 1965, Rajashree started her yoga training at the urging of her parents at age four. She was a five-time winner of the National Indian Yoga Championship from 1979 to 1983. She founded and was the first President of IYSF from 2013 to 2018, and was re-elected in 2020

Ainslie Faust

vice-president, treasurer

Ainslie began her yoga journey as Executive Director of Communications for Bikram’s Yoga College of India. She has been Executive Director of The United States Yoga Federation, the largest IYSF federation with over 300 athletes competing every year, since its inception in 2009.

Sebastien Bonnet

vice-president, secretary general

Finance and IT professional, Sebastien has been involved in yoga studio management since 2006. He has helped create many tools used for yoga competitions, especially the tabulation/scoring system. Sebastien was appointed IYSF Treasurer in 2016 he was voted as Executive Board member and Secretary General in 2018.

Umang Dawn

vice-president

Eight-time Indian National Gold Medalist, Former Captain – Indian Yoga Team, International Gold Medalist, Yoga King India Awardee, Masters of Business Administration in Sports Management, Master Olympic Scholar. Vice-President of IYSF from 2014 he has been reelected in 2018.

Iveta Kalnina

vice-president, sports and events

Iveta formerly worked as tax and legal adviser, she started teaching yoga in 2013 and has owned her own studio “AltA” since 2016. Secretary General of Latvian Yoga Sports Federation, she succeeded in making yoga recognized officially as a sport in Latvia, for the first time in any European country.

Athletes' Commission

Women

Almania Columbo
Italy

Yesica Soledad Cardozo
Argentina

Rocio Beatriz Enciso Rivera
Mexico

Natalia Krupichkova
Ukraine

Delfina Bo

Reema Kohli
Canada

Paula Carolina Valerio
Argentina

Jennifer Vanderhart
United States

Men

Mark Valenton
Australia

Erik Persson
Sweden

Thomas Forbang
United States


Technical Committee

Tereza Bonnet-Senkova
Chairman

Lynn Whitlow
Head Judge

Kim Tang
Head Coach

Alessandro Mauro Vanegas
Secretary

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