Hardev Singh of Tawi Trekkers wins men’s title in Sport Climbing C’ship

Winners of the 15th J&K State Sport Climbing Championship posing for a group photograph alongwith the dignitaries on Thursday.
Winners of the 15th J&K State Sport Climbing Championship posing for a group photograph alongwith the dignitaries on Thursday.

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Sept 10: Hardev Singh of Tawi Trekkers J&K won the coveted men’s title in the 15th J&K State Sport Climbing Championship which concluded at Sprawling Buds School, Chinore, here today.
The Championship was conducted by Mountaineering Association of J&K and sponsored by J&K State Sports Council.
Hardev Singh, who represented North Zone in Boys category in the last National Championship at Kolkata, had a close contest with Aman Arora, a senior climber, but the lanky climber displayed cool temperament and good technique to clinch the title. Aman was pushed to the second spot and Syed Abdul Mohsin of Pulwama secured the third place.
In the women’s category, Ambreen Fatima, a fast upcoming climber of Kargil who presently studies at Jammu,created an upset by beating senior climbers Bindia Sharma of Udhampur and Muskan Abrol of Jammu who had to be content with 2nd and 3rd places respectively.
The most interesting tussle was witnessed  in the Boys category in  lead climbing between Mrityunjay Sharma of Shangrilla Public School, Jammu, a national medalist and Aman Dogra, a talented climber of Shining Star Academy,Muthi. Both topped the 40 ft high wall in the semi final as well as in the final round and the result had to be determined on the basis of time taken to reach the top of the wall. Consequently, Aman Dogra who had taken only 1.48 minute against Mrityunjay’s time of 2.04 minutes was declared the winner.
However, Mrityunjay, who has entered Boys category this year only, came back very strongly in the speed competition and clinched the Gold. Aman Dogra and Abhishek Singh of S P Smart School secured the silver and bronze medals respectively.
The best contest was, however, witnessed in the Mini Boys section in which three climbers namely Ritesh Sharma, Randeep Parihar and Rudra Partap Singh, all from Sprawling Buds School, topped the wall in contrasting styles and the result was determined on the basis of time taken by the climbers to top the wall in which Ritesh emerged victorious and Randeep and Rudra Partap had to be content with second and third positions.
Other Results.
Sub Junior Boys: Arun Deep Singh, 1st; Ajay Deep Singh, 2nd; Vansh Gupta, 3rd; Sub Junior Girls: Madhu Thakur, 1st; Renu Devi, 2nd and Poonam Thakur, 3rd; Girls (both lead & Speed): Shivani Charak, 1st; Shilpa Charak, 2nd;  Nitya Sharma, 3rd;  Mini Girls: Asma Gul, 1st; Aman Khalsa, 2nd and Sunandini, 3rd.
In the valedictory function, General Secretary of Mountaineering Association of J&K Ram Khajuria alongwith Director of Sprawling Buds School, Rahul Sharma, Principal of National Academy Vishav Mohan Sharma and Principal of Amba Kids Home, Panthal (Reasi) gave away the medals to the winners. Mementoes were also presented to the participating teams.
A total of about 200 climbers from various districts of the State including Jammu, Udhampur, Anantnag, Kathua, Samba, Kupwara, Reasi, Rajouri, Kishtwar and Pulwama participated in the 2-day championship which was inaugurated by former MLA Ashwani Sharma on September, 8.
Shawetica Khajuria, a national judge in sport climbing was the president of Jury of the competition who was well supported by technical personnel deputed by Indian Mountaineering Foundation North Zone Committee, New Delhi.
Prominent among others present on the occasion included Yogeshwar Kumar, Arti Sharma, Narinder Singh,Puja Sharma, Sushil Singh, Fazal Ahmad, Mrigank Kaushal, Sakshi Magotra and Satish Bhan.