ROY KEANE has been criticised by a senior Hindu figure after blaming yoga for his "worst ever" performance during his football career.
For his 50th birthday this week, Keane was interviewed by former teammate Gary Neville on behalf of Sky Sports, where he was asked a series of quick-fire questions.
The Cork native revealed he tried yoga for the first time a few days before Manchester United faced Real Madrid in 2003. He said it completely drained him and caused him to massively underperform and he never tried it again.
"We played Real Madrid one time at home, but I'd just tried yoga a couple of days before that... and I couldn't get going, my energy was... I never got a kick," Keane said.
"I was taken off, and I remember thinking ‘I’m finished with real top level football."
The Irishman's comments angered Rajan Zed, a Hindu cleric based in the US, who said that blaming yoga was "out of line".
Mr Zed said that Keane needed to "wake up" and give the exercise another go.
"He was clearly doing a disservice to himself if not fully availing the valuable opportunities yoga provided,” the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism said.
Mr Zed noted that President Michael D Higgins had previously endorsed yoga, saying that he'd like to see it taught in Irish schools.
Despite Keane's dismissive comments, in 2005 the Irishman admitted that he and a number of teammates had taken yoga up, and claimed it was helping them.
"Myself, Giggsy [Ryan Giggs] and David Bellion do it and I think it has been a good help to us," he said.
