Award-winning Yoga performer from Andhra Pradesh awaits government recognition

B. Sirisha, a middle-class girl from Bhimavaram, became an award-winning yoga instructor in Vijayawada.

For B. Sirisha, yoga happened by chance. As a schoolgirl, becoming a yoga instructor was not even part of her wildest of dreams.

Yet, as destiny would have it, Ms. Sirisha today has not just become a well-known Yoga instructor in Vijayawada but also an award-winning performer in national and international championships.

Hailing from a middle-class family in Bhimavaram in the West Godavari district, Ms. Sirisha, recalls how it all started: “One day in 2010, when I was in my degree first year, my father nudged me and other relatives to join him in his daily Yoga sessions being held nearby. Since I was loathe to wake up early, I joined him unwillingly. I grew interested in it very soon. Since I was doing well, I caught the attention of the instructor who then encouraged me to practise more.”

But except for a few months of training under her three instructors in Bhimavaram, Satyanarayana Raju, G. Seetharamaiah and M. Ankhamma Rao in the initial days, Ms. Sirisha practised asanas (Yoga poses) on her own till now, unlike her other competitors in the tournaments who have been trained in famous academies.

Ms. Sirisha took part in a national championship for the first time in 2012. She could not make a mark then. The next big event that she took part in was in 2017. In the six years of gap, she got married and became a mother. “Performing yoga post pregnancy was difficult. But, I took it as a challenge,” she said.

Since 2017, Ms. Sirisha has won a medal (one bronze, two silver and two gold) in national-level events every year conducted by the Yoga Federation of India. She won a bronze in the national contest conducted by the National Yogasana Sports Championship, which was launched in 2022. Last week, she won gold in the Asian Pacific Yoga Sports Championship, organised by the Universal Yoga Sports Federation, in Bangkok. She received many other certificates and awards, including a Special Appreciation Award from the State government.

One point that she has noticed is that not many from the Telugu States make it to the national levels. It is always her rivals from West Bengal, Haryana or Maharashtra who take away the prizes.