Gond tribal Ashish Kallo is probably the most flexible boy in his school.
As a 10-year-old who had failed at athletics, Kallo wasn’t very enthusiastic about yoga. But, prodded by coach Sushil Mahakud, he began practising in 2016, when he was in Class VI at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sambalpur.
Now, the 16-year-old can bend and bow, stoop and squat to show off 220 asanas at the drop of a hat, says his coach happily.
Ashish Kallo’s Natarajasana, Bakasana, Marud Asana, Bibhokti Paschim Motasana and Chakra Bandhasana have wowed at the district school yoga level
Kallo was glum over his hiccup at the tracks and his confidence was at a low ebb. But “when Sushil Sir explained its benefits, yoga became my be-all and end-all,” he says with a smile.
It all began at the 2017 district school yoga competition. Kallo’s Natarajasana, Bakasana, Marud Asana, Bibhokti Paschim Motasana and Chakra Bandhasana wowed all and sundry.
At the Himalaya Yoga Olympiad-2018, organised in Bengaluru, Kallo showed six asanas, including the intricate Bhadrasana and Pinch Linker Asana, a new form, that won him the second position.
In the same year, the youth came first at the Kendriya Vidyalaya national tourney in Bhubaneswar and again at the state-level meet the next year in Cuttack. Now, Kallo dreams of going global.
