Asian Youth Championship
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 10: Shivani Charak of J&K gave a good account of herself by securing 9th rank in bouldering competition in the Asian Youth Championship held at Chongquing in China.
In a field of 21 climbers from prominent Asian countries she performed creditably to secure 9th place in Youth A Girls group but narrowly missed entering the final round in which only six best climbers qualified. Considering the fact that there is no climbing infrastructure in J&K and Shivani has to continuously shuttle between Jammu and Delhi for practice on standard walls it was an excellent performance.
Earlier, in the Lead competition she could not do much against a very tough competition among some of the top climbers of the world due to inexperience and lack of exposure to the big event and finally claimed the 13th rank.
“My main problem was that I had no experience of climbing in cold conditions and that too on very small holds”, Shivani said. “By working harder on chips (small holds) during coming winters I would definitely improve my game and perform better in future international competitions”, she expressed.
Shivani was among the 11 sport climbers of India including 6 girls selected by Indian Mountaineering Foundation, New Delhi for this prestigious international competition. She was partly sponsored by J&K State Sports Council.
It is pertinent to mention here that participation in these prestigious international competitions is a pre Olympic preparation and good performance in these competitions will facilitate Shivani’s selection for the Olympic Games to be held in Japan in April, 2020.
Meanwhile, Shivani, who is currently the top ranked woman climber in the country, will proceed to New Delhi on November 19 for four days practice on international standard bouldering gym in the Indian Mountaineering Foundation complex prior to her participation in the 2nd All India Bouldering Competition being organized at Bangalore on November 24 and 25.
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