Ahmedabad, June 7 (IANS) Former Miss Gujarat Super Model winner Heena Rajgor led India’s gold medal rush on the penultimate day of the inaugural World Yogasana Championships at the EKA Arena here on Sunday as the hosts extended their lead at the top.

At the time of writing, India stood at the top of the medals tally with a total of 50 medals, including 40 gold, eight silver and two bronze. Japan added two gold to go up to three and 10 overall. They are second on the table while Singapore are third with six medals, including a couple of gold.

The inaugural World Championships is a landmark event that marks a defining moment in the evolution of Yogasana, transforming an ancient Indian practice into a globally competitive sporting discipline while strengthening its pathway towards recognition within the Olympic movement.

The World Yogasana Championship 2026 is supported by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Ministry of Ayush, Sports Authority of India (SAI), Sports Authority of Gujarat, Gujarat Tourism and Gujarat Yogasana Sports Association – establishing Yogasana as a global sporting discipline and paving the way towards Olympic recognition.

Rajgor, who hails from Bhuj in Gujarat and currently is pursuing PhD in Yoga, dominated the Forward Bend competition in Senior B Female category to clinch the gold medal with 43.50 points. Oman’s Preeti Jaimani won the silver with 38.15 points while Svetlana Lukashova of Russia and Maya Al Alostath of Jordan shared the bronze.

“It is always special to win a gold medal on my home turf. When I took up Yogasana competitively after Covid, I had struggled to perform in competitions. But then I worked on my mental focus and the results are definitely coming,” said Heena, who also has a successful modelling career.

While the Indian expectedly dominated the gold medal race, Japan added two gold medals while Russia and Uzbekistan grabbed a gold each. Hisashi Watanabe (Supine Individual Senior B Male) and Tomoka Shimizu (Leg Balance Individual Senior C Female) bagged the gold medals for Japan while Svetlana Lukashova won the senior B female category in Supine Individual for Russia. Kamolatdin Rakhmanov clinched Uzbekistan’s first gold medal of the Championships in Leg Balance Individual Senior C Male category

Results:

Artistic Single:

Sub Junior Male: Gold — Rohan Tayade (India) 110.13, Silver — Prayaas Chauhan (Nepal) 43.39, Bronze — Yaatheesh Krishanthan (Sri Lanka) 24.35

Junior Male: Gold — Tripti Dongare (India) 112.63, Silver — Stoian Andreea (Romania) 65.54, Bronze — Kimani Blake (USA) 57.26s

Senior Female: Gold — Rudrakshi Bhave (India) 114.25, Silver — Lam Nga Man (Hong Kong) 80.83, Bronze — Chandani Pariyar (Nepal) 74.98

Senior Male: Gold — Arjun Parmar (India) 99.50, Silver — Batromeo Makumbi (Tanzania), Alan (Uzbekistan) 80.13, Bronze — Osward Lifumbe (Zimbabwe), Veron Owino (Kenya) 67.09

Junior Male: Gold — Ritika Bishnoi (India) 112.88, Silver — Sandesh Dhital (Nepal) 64.74, Bronze — Lathurshan Krishnakumar (Sri Lanka) 52.23

Supine Individual:

Senior A Female: Gold — Nisha Chawda (India) 38.92, Silver — Nabila Barraza (Argentina) 36.15, Bronze — Gwen Ong Cui Faan (Singapore), Sona Soghoyan (Armenia) 34.99

Senior A Male: Gold — Vikash Lather (India) 39.59, Silver — Karima Swafi (Tanzania) 37.92, Bronze — Shakirov Dmitrievich (Uzbekistan) 36.44

Senior B Female: Gold — Svetlana Lukashova (Russia), 38.62, Silver — Amita Kumari (India) 37.46, Bronze — Srijana Sreshta (Nepal) 36.88

Senior B Male: Gold — Hisashi Watanabe (Japan) 41.79, Silver — Rohit Chavan (India) 41.78, Bronze — Danil Rykov (Kyrgyzstan) 38.82, Moataz Hindawi (Egypt) 38.82

Traditional Yogasana:

Sub Junior Female: Gold — Devanshi Garg (India) 62.58, Silver — Suharika Karki (Nepal) 61.00, Bronze — Aahana Goswami (Oman) 60.92

Forward Bend:

Senior B Female: Gold — Heena Rajgor (India) 43.50, Silver — Preeti Jaimani (Oman) 38.15, Bronze — Svetlana Lukashova (Russia), Maya Al Alostath (Jordan) 36.96

Leg Balance Individual:

Senior C Female: Gold — Tomako Shimizu (Japan) 31.84, Silver — Doma Chanda (Mauritius) 30.47, Bronze — Sudha (India) 30.30

Senior C Male: Gold — Kamolatdin Rakhmanov (Uzbekistan) 37.33, Silver — Sathish Kumar Gujarati (India) 36.35, Bronze — Takuro Sato (Japan) 29.35.

–IANS

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