Like many unknown or lesser-known sports disciplines in India, sport climbing attracted a bit of attention today as a three-member national squad, comprising Bharath Pereira (Karnataka), Maibam Chingkheinganba (Manipur) and Shreya Nankar (Maharashtra), was announced for the 18th Asian James, schedule to be held in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2, 2018.
Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) announced the squad after the conclusion of the three-week-long final national camp here at Kalinga Stadium Sports Climbing Complex. The camp was jointly organised by IMF and Sports and Youth Services Department, Government of Odisha with the support of Sport Climbing Association of Odisha.
Twelve other sport climbers _ Shivpreet Panu, Shivani Charak, Arundhati Yadav, Pema Bhutia, Adarsh Singh, Sahil Khan, Soha Diwan, Talim Ansari, Anupama Swain, Rajani Bishi, Manoj Dakua and Bishnu Kolar _ participated in the camp.
American coach Kristofer Peters conducted the camp with the assistance of four Indian coaches. IMF Sport Climbing president Brig MP Yadav and East Zone president Ujjwal Ganguly were present in the camp. Physical efficiency training of the campers was held at Utkal Karate School, under the supervision of Hari Prasad Pattanayak.
State Sports and Youth Services Department OSD Chanchal Rana distributed certificate to the campers. Speaking on the occasion, Brig Yadav announced that the National Sport Climbing Championship will be held at Bhubaneswar in February, 2019.
SPORT CLIMING BODIES:
International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is the international governing body for the sport of competitive climbing, which consists of disciplines lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering. It was founded in Frankfurt on 27 January 2007 by 48 member federations.
Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) is the apex governing body in India and based at Deelhi. IMF was formed in 1957 and registered on 3rd November 1961. But IMF has not yet made it clear about its affiliated state units, if there are any. It is also not clear, whether IMF is recognised by Indian Olympic Association.
Some time back, Sports Climbing Federation of India (SCFI) also claimed itself as the the apex governing body of the sport in India with Pradip Kumar Mishra (Retd IAS) as president and Sushant Kumar Das (Odisha) as secretary. Election of office-bearers of SCFI was said to have been held in Delhi in July 2016.
A body named as Odisha Sports Climbing Association emerged as the apex governing body of Odisha in August 2016 with Sushant Kumar Das as its secretary. Another body in the name of Sports Climbing Association of Odisha (SCAO) with Rabindra Kumar Bhuyan as secretary also claimed itself as the apex state body in Nov 2017.
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PHOTO: Sport climbers, coaches, IMF and DSYS officials at the closing ceremony of the National camp in Bhubaneswar on July 18, 2018.