ISLAMABAD: A five-member Pakistan team will participate in the wall climbing event of the Asian Games, taking place in Hangzhou, China from next month.

“The team is comprised of three men and two women climbers,” Karrar Haidri, secretary Alpine Club of Pakistan told said on Wednesday.

“The men’s team includes Abuzar Faiz, Zaheer Ahmed, and Fazal Wadood, while the women’s team members are Iqra Jillani and Eman Janat,” he said.

Rehmatullah and Najeeb Khan will be accompanying the climbers as officials.

Sport climbing made its debut in Asian Games at the 2018 edition in Jakarta with Pakistan sending two athletes with neither Mushahid Hussain or Sajid Aslam going past qualification in the men’s event.

Sport climbing is a form of regulated rock climbing competition held indoors on purpose-built artificial climbing walls.

The three standalone competition climbing disciplines are: lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing. A fourth discipline of “combined” is based on results in the three main disciplines.

The third Chinese city to host the Games after Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010, Hangzhou will welcome 10,000 athletes across 42 different sports from Sept 23-Oct 8.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2023