Hyderabad Bouldering Championship Cup

Online, July 2, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The Indian Mountaineering Foundation is introducing the IMF Cups, a series of climbing competitions spread over the country .This move is a special initiation to promote sport climbing on rocks and artificial wall surfaces across the country .

The first competition of the series was held at Mussoorie (Uttarakhand) on 30th of May 2010. The competition was organized by the IMF(Indian Mountaineering Foundation) in association with the ITBP(Indo-Tibetean Border Police). IMF would like to reach out to as many climbers and to as many regions as possible to make this sport popular and excel in it in the year 2010-2011.

IMF plans to invite international athletes in the coming years. The event is organized in association with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and supported by Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation(APTDC) and the volunteers from Great Hyderabad Adventure Club (GHAC) .

International athletes Praveen, Shivalinga , Neha Prakesh, Chea Marak all from Bangalore, Debala Devi - Manipur, Ankit Sharma - Rajasthan , Susan Limu, Prashant Allay- west Bengal, will be at their best in the competition.

India bagged 11 medals at the Asian youth champion ship head at Kazakistan last year of which four Gold's were won by two girls Neha and Debala. The climbers are given 10 bouldering problems in a stipulated time and the climber who finishes the maximum boulders in the minimum attempts is the winner.

There will be a qualification and final round with about 8 making it to the finals. With about 110 climbers competing for their names in the top slot, an increase in the standard and technique is assured.

Climbers from Imphal, Delhi, Trivandrum , Bikanare, Shliong, Darjeeling, Calcutta, Punjab , Trivandrum , Nilgirais, Pune, Mumbai, Chitradurga, Ahemdabad, Davanegre, and Hydrabad will participate in the event. Strong teams from army, air force, and ITBP will also be looking for the top spots. The top ceded Praveen CM (bouldering national champion) is struggling to recover from ankle injury and this season the competition is open and can be anybodies game.

From our own famous Monkey man Jyothi Raj from chirtadurga to Mogli Mangeet singh from Punjab. It will also be a treat to watch the young girls perform and grab the opportunity in the absence of senior women climbers. There are 167 climbing walls in India and the sport is growing at a fast pace especially in metros and since Hyderabad was lagging behind this competition would create awareness and potential of the place in terms of how climbing is visualized.

With the south zone winning the national trophy for the past 9 years it's really a surprise that the bouldering sport has not caught up in Hyderabad which has so many natural boulders in the city. What is usually witnessed was a group of Japanese climbers on one side and a local club climbers on the other climbing pockets in Hyderabad.

Program Schedule
Location: Durgam Cheruvu

3rd July, Saturday, 2010
0700hrs - Semi-Final Bouldering
1300hrs - Lunch
1500 hrs finals bouldering

4th July, Sunday, 2010
1300hrs - lunch
1400hrs - Juniors Speed Climbing Competition
1745hrs - prize distribution