Woman of today: Climbing rocks, scaling mountains

Marking the International Women Day, a three-day national rock climbing competition concludes.

Women are certainly not behind in field. Marking the International Women Day, a three-day national rock climbing competition concluded on Tuesday. The event was organised by the Danish embassy in collaboration with the Adventure Club of Pakistan.

“[We held this competition] to highlight the potential of Pakistani women in sports as well as in other aspects of society,” said Danish Ambassador to Pakistan, Uffe Wolffhechel, at the award ceremony of Pakistan’s fifth Open Climbing Competition, said a press release issued by the embassy.

The competition comprised four categories. In the category of under-14, Eeman Nadeem scored first position, followed by Iqra Jilani and Maham Mujahid. In the category of under-16, Palwasha Rodriguez took the leading position, Hamna Kiran stood second and Aleeza Sana came third.

In the under-19 category, Aneesa Rashid was awarded with first position, Nazish Taj second and Rushna Zamir came in third.

In the last female category of 19 and above, a special record was made by Nazia Parveen from Fatima Jinnah Women University, who along with winning the first position of the category also set a record in the overall competition, taking the lowest time to climb, beating the male participants as well. Irum Nisa came second and Kiran Nisa took third position in the same category.

The three-day national competition saw more than 150 climbers from various parts of the country, including most of the educational institutions and clubs from Rawalpindi and Islamabad, vying for climbing glory.

The climbers were supported and watched by a large number of spectators, who had joined these energetic young people in their efforts to climb vertical cliffs in the Margalla Hills.

During the award ceremony, the Danish ambassador congratulated all of the winners and said, “Denmark strongly believes in supporting activities that contribute to positioning Pakistan on a more competitive global footing.”

“This competition is an illustration of the fact that Pakistani girls and women have a huge potential which needs to be recognised and further promoted,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2011.