“The response was amazing, way beyond our expectations,” Preeti Saran, India's ambassador to Vietnam said. In Hanoi, at least 4,000 spectators watched 800 people perform yoga asanas. In Ho Chi Minh, there was a turnout of 3,000 people who watched 500 people do yoga.
The International Day for Yoga was also held across Japan. India's Ambassador to Japan Deepa Wadhwa said Tokyo itself had several events on the Yoga Day.
Wadhwa flagged off at the premises of a Japanese school where around 500 yoga enthusiasts were attending. A similar event was held in Paris, where people dressed in white sat on mats under the Eiffel Tower and practiced yoga.
Other ASEAN nations such as Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, also joined the world in celebrating the ancient Indian spiritual practice.
June 21 was declared as the International Day of Yoga by the UN General Assembly in December, 2014. 177 nations, out of 193 member states of the UN joined as co-sponsors, creating a new record for the highest number of co-sponsoring countries ever for an UNGA Resolution of such nature.
