Illustration: Shyam G. Menon

Girivihar, Mumbai’s oldest mountaineering club, hopes to hold a world cup in bouldering, in 2016.

The event will be in Navi Mumbai.

India has never hosted a world cup in climbing, before.

Moves for a world cup here have been on for some time.

The idea can be linked to Girivihar’s track record in conducting an annual sport climbing and bouldering competition in Navi Mumbai for the past over ten years.

This event grew steadily; it attracts climbers from India and overseas.

Although it started as a bouldering and sport climbing event on natural rock, it progressively transformed to being a bouldering competition on artificial climbing walls.

An overview of this competition can be had at https://shyamgopan.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/a-competitions-solo-climb/ & https://shyamgopan.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/2014-girivihar-climbing-competition-daily-report/

“ We are aspiring to host the 2016 IFSC Bouldering world cup,’’ the club’s latest circular said.

According to it the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) granted provisional clearance for the project in November 2014. Should Girivihar’s application be confirmed by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), then it will have to submit the required application fees.

Alongside, the club has disclosed plans for an Indian national bouldering team that will participate in the 2016 world cup. This plan includes a comprehensive training program for the team.

Needless to say, such steps like the application process, training of the team, a proposed road show to publicize the world cup, prize money and the event itself, will entail considerable expense.

The circular mentions a fund raising effort.

Earlier, it was separately understood that the annual bouldering competition which used to be held every January at Belapur in Navi Mumbai, won’t be there in 2015 as the organizers have shifted their attention to the planned world cup.

(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai)