(From left) Julien Gras, Manuel Hassler, Percy Bishton and Gen Hirashima, the IFSC’s route setting team for the upcoming 2017 World Cup in Bouldering at Navi Mumbai (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

Please note: coverage of the 2017 IFSC World Cup in Bouldering at Navi Mumbai will be split between this blog and Outrigger 2, accessible at https://outriggerblog.wordpress.com/

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As of June 19, the last date for athletes to register, a total of 102 climbers had registered to compete at the 2017 IFSC World Cup in Bouldering due at Navi Mumbai over June 24-25.

The countries represented include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Great Britain, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Nepal, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand and Taiwan.

The competition under the aegis of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is organized by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) and Girivihar, Mumbai’s oldest mountaineering club.

Bouldering is one of the three main disciplines under sport climbing, itself an offshoot of rock climbing. Bouldering is climbing simplified. Use of gear is kept to a minimum. The climber uses climbing shoes for his feet and chalk powder to keep his hands dry. At the competition, climbing is done on indoor bouldering walls. The climber’s fall from the wall is cushioned using crash pads. In bouldering, the height of the climb is modest but the moves can be extremely difficult.

The venue of the World Cup; CIDCO Convention / Exhibition Center in Vashi, Navi Mumbai (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

This is the second time the World Cup is taking place in Navi Mumbai.

As per the IFSC website, last year at Navi Mumbai, there were 38 participants in the women’s category and 42 in the men’s making for a total of 80 participants. In 2016, the Japanese had secured four of the six positions on the podium in Navi Mumbai with Kokoro Fujii and Miho Nonaka winning top honours in the men’s and women’s categories respectively. The IFSC World Cup is a series of competitions held at various locations worldwide. It is similar to Formula One with winners announced for each World Cup and overall winners declared on the strength of points accumulated in a series.

By Sunday (June 18) evening, the route setters dispatched by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) for this year’s event, were all in place. The team led by Manuel Hassler also includes Gen Hirashima, Percy Bishton and Julien Gras. Manuel and Gen were part of the route setting team in 2016. Julien is visiting India after a gap of 12 years. On his earlier trip this side exploring climbing destinations in India, he had climbed with Girivihar (for more on what route setters do at a competition, please click on this link:  https://shyamgopan.wordpress.com/2016/05/09/the-puzzle-makers/).

Unlike in 2016…. (to continue reading this article please click on this link: https://outriggerblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/102-athletes-register-for-the-2017-ifsc-world-cup-in-navi-mumbai/)

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