Bengaluru: Visually impaired athletes from Karnataka won four out of six medals at the first Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF) National Sports Climbing Championship that took place in Jammu on March 28.
Karnataka women made a clean sweep, bagging all the medals, while men secured one gold. The IMF had organised the first National Sport Climbing Championship for the visually impaired in Jammu. Eleven athletes from Karnataka participated in the event and all of them were first-timers. They started practising two months ago.
Around 50 visually impaired athletes from New Delhi, Punjab, Telangana, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir had participated in the championship. Karnataka dominated the event, winning four out of six places, with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
Sunitha won the gold medal, Mala won silver and Kavya Bronze. Nandeesha Janardhan from the men's category won the gold medal. Shika Shetty, coordinator of Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, who was in charge of the Karnataka contingent, said that the team had worked hard for the last two months.
"Even though it was their first attempt, they managed to beat all the other experienced athletes. A little support from the government for the basic facilities like shoes and equipment and encouragement will bring an immense change in these athletes' training and they would remain undefeated," she said.
Sunitha, a second year BA student who won the first place, said that she was a little nervous initially, but gained confidence as she started climbing and believed that she could reach the top and finish the challenge.
Nandeesha Janardhan, who recently completed his second PU and is currently working with the Samarthanam Trust for Disabled, said, "I feel privileged that I got an opportunity to represent my state in the championship. It was a close competition as there were extremely skilled and experienced co-athletes who participated along with me. I was very nervous and anxious at first and I did not expect to win the championship."
