Harold Hill schoolgirl breaks hula hooping world record

Aarya Gupta achieved the Worldwide Book of Records’s feat for the most hula hoop spins performed in one minute by a five to seven-year-old.

For this age category, the previous record was 160 spins in a minute but Aarya claimed the new record of 164.

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“She is extremely happy,” said Disha Yagnik, Aarya’s mother.

“She was very excited the other day when I showed her that her name appears on Google now – that put a big smile on her face.”

Aarya was born in Romford and has lived here since, attending Hilldene Primary School (Image: Disha Yagnik) Aarya attends Hilldene Primary School, in Harold Hill and unearthed her hula hooping talent during an after school session with Wonderyears Out Of School Club.

“One of the after school club teachers spotted her and told me how good she was at hula hooping,” Disha recalled.

“When she came home and showed me, she was hooping for around 8 minutes and her hoop didn’t fall once. I was absolutely shocked and I started looking into what the record was.”

Disha explained that Aarya practiced for around a month after finding out the current record for her age group was 160 spins in a minute.

“At the beginning, she was getting about 110 to 120 hoops in a minute and still had a way to go before 160 but she said to me ‘don’t worry mum, its not that hard. I’ll keep practising.’”

In late November last year, Disha filmed Aarya hitting a whopping 164 spins in one minute and sent it to the Worldwide Book of Records for inspection.

With confirmation of a witness present at the time and a witness declaration form signed, the Worldwide Book of Records validated Aarya’s success.

“I am still absolutely speechless,” said Disha.

“I think as a parent, the best I can do is just to give her guidance, support her and motivate her at every stage.

“As a mother, it was great to see her willingness throughout the journey.”

Aarya managed 164 spins in one minute, beating the existing record by 4 (Image: Disha Yagnik) As well as the Wonderyears Out Of School Club sessions, Aarya attends Harlequin Gymnastics Club in her spare time.

“She is a very, very active child and she just wanted to showcase what she could do.

“She’s wanting to do something different now. She’s already thinking about what could interest her in different fields now.”

Disha concluded with a message to parents of young children: “I would advise parents to always know that your child is different to others and to give them a level of importance.

“My child is doing gymnastics like all the other children but when you sit back and look at their interests and developments, you will see they are doing something subtly different.”