J&K to host 4th North Zone Climbing C’ship: Chib
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 26: Minister for Youth Services and Sports RS Chib today said that the J&K would host 4th North Zone Climbing Championship this year.
He stated this after inaugurating 2-day 12th Jammu District Sport Climbing (JDSC) championship organised by J&K Mountaineering Association in collaboration with Montessori Nargus Dutt Public School RS Pura.
Ashwani Kumar Sharma, MLA, Secretary, J&K State Sports Council, Kiran Wattal, SDM, RS Pura Suraj Parkash, besides sports lovers were also present.
As many as 200 climbers from across the district would participate in six categories of men, women, boys, girls, sub-junior boys and girls in Lead and Speed climbing.
Chib said that the adventure sports are gaining popularity among the youth, adding that it is proving helpful for generating employment avenues at large.
Underscoring the need for popularizing adventure sports in the State, Chib said, J&K is the choicest destination to the visitors world-over and promotion of adventure sports will also boost the State’s economy attracting more visitors from within and outside the country.
He asked the association for organizing similar championships in other districts to attract more youth towards the sports as these inculcate confidence, endurance and spirit of exploration.
Later, he honoured the best climbers who have brought laurels to the State representing at national levels.
During the championship, 9 climbers led by Ghar Singh and Rahul Kundan of Misra Shiksha Niketan High School, Arnia and Raghu Bai Hastir of St Xavier Higher Secondary School, Barnai entered the final round by topping the 40 ft high fibre glass wall in the Boys Category.
However, the Girls category was dominated by the host MNDP School, RS Pura with 6 climbers entering the final round of 12 climbers. Similarly, 5 climbers of MNDP School entered the final round in the Sub Junior Girls category along with 5 climbers from other schools. The competitions in the Sub Junior Boys category were in progress.
Suraj Singh, Anil Kumar, Puneet Sharma and Ashish Kapoor are the Route Setters cum Belayers, Shivani Raj Kaith, Princy Choudhry and Ria Gupta are the Judges. Sonam Sidharth and Mrigank Koushal are the organizing Secretaries.