ISLAMABAD: Nazia Parveen, a climber of Adventure Club - Pakistan, has said that climbing is getting popular in the country but still needs support from the government.

Pakistan offers some of the world’s best rock-climbing and mountaineering opportunities in the form of the mountain ranges of the Karakoram, Hindukhush and the Himalayas.

Parveen, record holder and winner of the last five local climbing competitions told APP that there are as many girls involved as there are boys in climbing.

“We have to change this kind of thinking that certain sports are for girls and certain sports are for boys. In the last competition, there were more than 100 girls taking part in this activity so I believe it’s very feasible for girls as well.”

In March 2011, Parveen participated in the 5th Pakistan Open Climbing Competition and was awarded with a special trophy for her record-breaking performance. In another wall-climbing competition, she won a gold medal for best female climber.

“There are very few people in this sport and we hardly have any interactions with other clubs. However, our Club is focusing on training and conducts practice and training sessions for beginners.

“We have some good instructors in the Club and I take care of the female section but the Federation should focus on that as training is a basic requirement for any game,” she said.

“It is just the beginning in Pakistan but we are confident of competing anywhere with more training, hard work and determination.

“We have a good number of young climbers as well, so I feel we are headed in the right direction and will perform well for Pakistan in the future.”

However, she said that the government’s support is required for the sport so that better accomplishments in climbing can be made in the future.