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Saudi Arabia:Saudi Yoga Committee President Nouf Al-Marwaai said the committee was striving hard to introduce yoga to universities, while emphasizing the importance of practicing it for health and wellness.
The decision was taken at a forum titled “The Role of University Sports in Supporting the Kingdom’s Vision in Sports” organised in the capital city of Riyadh where several experts and international leaders registered their presence.
Yoga gives its practitioners many health benefits (for) both physical and mental well-being. One of the most important pillars of achieving Vision 2030 is to enhance participation in sports activities, and to achieve sports excellence locally, continentally, and internationally.
Yoga was not officially allowed in Saudi Arabia for decades. Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country where all non-Muslim practices are banned.
However, yoga may face fierce opposition from fundamentalists in Saudi universities.
In December last year, Saudi Arabia hosted an event to promote yoga and invited 11 Arab countries to participate. The Muslim country of Saudi Arabia is mired in many types of orthodoxy. But it is constantly implementing reforms to woo foreign tourists and investors.
Saudi Arabia, in 2022, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India for the establishment of a formal “yoga protocol (standards)” for the promotion of yoga in the country. This was the first such bilateral cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia on yoga.
