Sports Reporter
JAMMU: Hardev Singh of Jammu retained the coveted Men’s title of the 16th J and K State Sport Climbing Championship which started at Sprawling Buds School, Chinore, here on Friday. In the final round of Lead climbing, Hardev surpassed Aman Arora and Abhishek Slathia who secured the second and third positions respectively.
In the Boys category, wherein 34 climbers participated, six climbers led by national champion, Aman Dogra of Abhey Higher Secondary School, Muthi, Jammu have reached the final round. Similarly, Shivani Charak, a national speed climbing champion led a pack of eight climbers in the final round of the girls category. In fact, Shilpa Charak gave a tough fight to her more fancied climber for the top position. In the semi final of the Sub Junior Boys section, Ajay Deep Singh, a zonal medalist, topped the 40ft high wall to lead a group of six climbers in the final round. Similarly, as expected, Asma Gul of Sprawling Buds School, a national climber, led a group of eight climbers to the final round. The finals in both Lead and Speed categories have been scheduled for tomorrow. Earlier, the championship was declared open by, Member Legislative Council (MLC), Ashok Khajuria in the presence of Chairman, Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), North Zone Committee, New Delhi, S. Bhattacharjee and Divisional Sports Officer of J&K State Sports Council, Rajan Sharma.
While addressing the distinguished gathering, the chief guest lauded the role of Mountaineering Association of J and K for the promotion of adventure activities in J and K. He congratulated the climbers for the inclusion of Sport climbing in the next Olympics at Tokyo in 2020.
The Chief Guest, Ashok Khajuria also announced a grant of Rs.1 lakh out of his Constituency Development Fund to the Mountaineering Association for further development of adventure activities in J and K. Prominent among others present on the occasion included Secretary, Mountaineering Association of J and K Ram Khajuria; Vice President, Yogeshwar Kumar, Joint Secretary, Shawetica Khajuria, Directors of Sprawling Buds School, Rahul Sharma, Ramesh Khajuri and Arti Sharma; Shashi Kant Sharma, Sakshi Magotra and Aman Arora, all qualified Belayers; Sumit Khajuria, a prominent mountaineer and Satish Bhan, a sports organiser.
The championship is being organized by Mountaineering Association of J and K and sponsored by J and K State Sports Council.
The Results:
The Semifinals: Women: Kumari Bindia, Ambreen Fatima, Shaweta Magotra, Avneet Kaur, Deepika, Vaishali Sharma. Girls: Shivani Charak, Shilpa Charak, Nitya Sharma, Ananya Choudhary, Kirandeep Kour, Simrandeep Kaur, Babneet Kour, Gagandeep Kour. Sub Junior Girls: Asma Gul, Shaweta Kapoor, Pooja Sharma, Akriti Gupta, Khalsa, Priya Sharma, Pallavi Thakur, Jasmine Kaur. Mini Girls: Nandita Saini, Samiksha Manhas, Gurleen Kour , Loveneet Kour, Vanshika Gupta, Pavni Gupta, Nainika Saini, Viraj Laxmi. Boys: Aman Dogra, Mrityunjay Sharma, Tandeep, Deepak Koul , Mohit Sharma and Sumit Raina. Sub Junior Boys: Ajay Deep Singh, Arun Deep Singh, Ritesh Sharma, Ajay Thakur, Sourav Dayal, AnkitA Koul. Mini Boys: Randeep Singh, Rudra Partap, Kawardeep Singh, Adhya Mahajan, Janmit Singh, Keshvam Dev Singh, Keshav Bali, Keertan Koul.