Two players from the Northeast have been selected for the men’s national team to participate in the forthcoming Asian Beach Games.
The selected players are Assam Sport Climbing Association (ASCA) member Mathew John Marak, also known as Popo and Manipur’s Maibam Chinkheinganba.
The sixth Asian Beach Games 2020 will be held from April 2-10 next year in China’s Sanya city.
The two players from the Northeast have been selected by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), headquartered in New Delhi, on the basis of their performance.
“Both of the players achieved top rankings in the Asian Youth Climbing Championship, Bengaluru held in December 2019,” said Mayur Mahanta, general secretary of Assam Sport Climbing Association, in a statement.
“Sport climbing is a totally new sport in our state, and we are affiliated to the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), New Delhi,” Mahanta added.
The Assam Sport Climbing Association was established in 2015, as a sister organisation of the Assam Mountaineering Association, and both the associations have congratulated Maibam and Mathew.
Mahanta informed that sports climbing has been included in the list of sports to be played in the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics.