BENGALURU: Sunita N Dhondappnapar, a 21-year-old college student from the city, has barely been able to see beyond 60 metres since she was born. But this did not stop her from climbing over hurdles, quite literally.She won a gold medal in the women’s category of the National Sports Climbing Competition for the visually-impaired held in Jammu a week ago. It was organised by the Indian Mountaineers Foundation.
“I used to climb trees in my village in Tolagi in Belgaum district. However, this sort of climbing was totally new and different. I have grown to enjoy it a great deal,” says the second-year BA student of Vijayanagara First Grade Government College.
Sunita was not alone in her triumphs, she had a team of 11 visually-impaired climbers who excelled at the event. They are all part of the Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, which has taken care of their training and other essentials.Nandeesha J, another participant is the only other climber from the team who won the gold medal in the men’s category at the event. “I used to be interested in athletics while in school but then there was no coach so I could not pursue much of that. However I have taken to climbing,” says Nandeesha also has a visual defect since he was born.
Mohammed Niyamath, coach for the 11 member team and a para-climber himself, says there were participants from a number of states such as Punjab, New Delhi, Kashmir to name a few. “The participants were tested in various categories, such as the hold, following a particular path, on the height of the climb as well as the speed.”