The venue of the Asian Cup Rock Climbing Competition.
The 2012 Asian Cup Rock Climbing Competition will be held in Chengdu for the first time from November 3 to 5. Nearly 100 athletes from more than ten countries and regions, including China, South Korea, Thailand, India, and Kazakhstan, will participate. This is the highest-level rock climbing competition ever held in Sichuan.
Zhang Jiangyuan, deputy director of the Climbing Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, introduced yesterday that this year’s competition is an artificial wall event, featuring four major events: men's and women's difficulty and speed climbing. All participating athletes are registered with the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), representing the highest level of rock climbing in their respective Asian countries and regions. These include Zhong Qixin, captain of the Chinese National Climbing Team and four-time World Cup champion, as well as Min Hyun-bin, winner of the men's difficulty event at the IFSC World Cup in South Korea.
It is understood that the climbing venue at Sichuan Tourism University (in preparation), where the event is being held, is the first in Southwest China to meet international competition standards. Xu Jun, head of the university’s Department of Sports and Leisure, explained that the venue has four climbing routes spanning nearly 50 meters in length and 19 meters in height. The site includes three complete types of routes: speed climbing, difficulty climbing, and bouldering. Among these, the speed climbing route is a standardized one with a world record, while the difficulty and bouldering routes vary depending on the specific layout of the venue.
Jiang Xianlun, deputy director of the Sichuan Provincial Sports Bureau, stated that they are preparing to collaborate with the education department to incorporate rock climbing into school extracurricular programs and conduct pilot explorations in primary and secondary schools. Reporters learned that currently, only Lingke Primary School in Chengdu offers a rock climbing course.