PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Feb 23: Tata Steel Sport Climbing Championship 2022 kicked off at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Tuesday evening. It is India’s biggest climbing championship.
Peeyush Gupta, vice-president, (Supply Chain), Tata Steel, graced the occasion as chief guest.
He said, “This event is a key milestone in the field of sport climbing in India. We intend to increase awareness about this sport and to prepare champions who will represent India at the international competitive stage. Tata Steel has always been at the forefront of developing sports in India and with pioneering efforts of Tata Steel Adventure Foundation, we are sure that sport climbing will also reach new heights in the country.”
More than 270 climbers across the country in different age groups will participate in the championship.
The event categories are Lead, Bouldering, Speed Climbing and speed relay.
The participants have been put into categories based on their age, the youngest group being 6-9 years followed by subsequent age groups till 18 years and above.
Sport climbing is witnessing a larger audience ever since its inclusion in the Olympic Games with its debut in Tokyo 2020.
The Paris 2024 Olympics will see even greater participation in two categories of this sport, speed climbing, then lead & bouldering combined.
The originality of these events as well as the discipline’s visual, aesthetic, and exciting nature makes it a very popular and widely practiced sport for young people that can take place in a very diverse environment – urban and natural.
The Tata Steel Sports Climbing Academy at JRD Tata Sports Complex is the first-of-its-kind sports academy where budding athletes are nurtured by experienced instructors to climb higher and win laurels for the country.
Building on the experience of the first edition of the Tata Steel Sport Climbing Championship held in 2019, the preparations for this year are stronger and will see larger participation.
The championship will be live-streamed on the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation YouTube channel every day. Regular updates will also be available on the Instagram page – sports.climbing.
