Five climbers of Mountaineering Association of J&K have been selected by Indian Mountaineering Foundation, New Delhi, to represent the country in the World Youth Championship scheduled to be held at Arco, Italy from August 22 to 31. The selected climbers are Shivani Charak, Ajay Deep Singh, Arun Deep Singh, Mrityunjay Sharma and Shilpa Charak. They are among the 18 members selected from throughout the country for this global competition. Indian Mountaineering Foundation, New Delhi is the apex body for mountaineering and sport climbing in the country. While Shivani and Shilpa have been selected to compete in the Junior Women category (18-19 years), Ajay Deep Singh and Arun Deep Singh shall participate in Boys-A category (16-17 years) and Mrityunjay Sharma has been selected for Junior Men category competition. It may be mentioned that all the five climbers are accomplished sport climbers of the country. While Shivani Charak and Ajay Deep Singh are top ranked sport climbers of the country, Arun Deep Singh is ranked 3rd, Shilpa ranked 8th and Mrityunjay is also ranked among the top 10 climbers in the senior men category. It may be mentioned here that both Shivani and Mrityunjay are international climbers. While Shivani had her training at Switzerland, Slovania and Italy. She has already participated in a World Cup Competition in 2017, Asian Cup at Bangkok and Asian Youth Championship at Chonqing, China in 2018. 18 years old Mrityunjay Sharma is also an accomplished speed climber, who at the age of 16 years was the youngest participant in the World Cup held at Navi Mumbai in June, 2017. However, for Ajay Deep Singh, Arun Deep and Shilpa Charak it will be their maiden international competition.
