~ The annual championship will also be a talent discovery and mentoring platform ~

~ Will create future champions in climbing to represent India in Olympics ~

Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF), today, announced the launch of ‘Tata Steel Sport Climbing Championship 2019, a three-day open competition for young climbers between the age group of 6 and 16 that will be held in Jamshedpur at the JRD Sports Complex on Dec 21-23, 2019.

TSAF plans to make this championship the flagship annual climbing event in India that will introduce this new and emerging international sporting event to the Indian yo ual sporting event will also be a new platform to involve the community at large and facilitate a wide adoption of climbing in India and create a network of institutions and stakeholders to increase the reach of the sport.

The ‘Tata Steel Sport Climbing Championship 2019’ will be held under three age groups i.e. 6-9 years, 10-13 years and 14-16 years and host a speed relay for both men and women. Around 120 participants including the current national champions have already registered for this competition.

Mr. Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel, said, “Tata Steel has been a major benefactor of sports in India. Climbing, though a very popular sport internationally, it is now fast emerging as a popular sport in India. The ‘Tata Steel Sport Climbing Championship 2019’ is specifically designed to give an impetus to this sport in the country. TSAF is very well positioned to create a platform to grow this sport in the coming years to an international level.”

Conveying his best wishes to all participants and the organisers for this exciting event, he added: “ It is heartening to see that youngsters groomed at TSAF are already making a mark in international competitions.”

Climbing is now an Olympics event and has been included in Tokyo Olympics 2020 for the first time. Climbing is now becoming an urban sport and is getting popular with schools and even defence forces setting-up climbing walls. More than 25 million people in the world regularly try climbing as a sport. Tokyo, Germany and France have more than 500 climbing gyms while India alone has around 100 good climbing walls accessible to kids and the general public.

The Tata Group through TSAF and Tata Trusts has been a pioneer in developing sport climbing in India. The first wall at Indian Mountaineering Foundation was sponsored by Tata Steel in 1994 & named as ‘JRD Tata Wall’. The two climbing world cups, hosted in India, were organised by a private club and sponsored by Tata Trusts. The Tata Steel Adventure Foundation Climbing Centre was set up in 2014 and has since developed into one of the best available facilities in India to promote the sport and nurture young talent. TSAF has also been supporting many under-privileged children by providing training, nutrition, lodging and education.

Recently, Tata Steel Adventure Foundation’s (TSAF) cadet Anisha Verma (15) from Jamshedpur became the first female climber from East Zone (Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha) to win a medal at the Asian Youth Championship. Anisha won a silver medal in speed climbing at the championship, organised by International Federation of Sport Climbing and Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), in Bengaluru from December 11-15, 2019.

About Tata Steel
Tata Steel group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 33 million tonnes per annum. It is one of the world's most geographically-diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world. The group (excluding SEA operations) recorded a consolidated turnover of US $22.67 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2019. In 2018, Tata Steel acquired Bhushan Steel Ltd (now renamed as Tata Steel BSL Ltd).

A Great Place to Work-Certified organisation, Tata Steel Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 65,000.

Tata Steel retained the ‘Global Steel Industry Leader’ position in the DJSI 2018. The Company has been recognised as the Climate Disclosure Leader in ‘Steel category’ by CDP (2017). Besides being a member of the World Steel Climate Action Programme, Tata Steel has won several awards including the Lighthouse recognition for its Kalinganagar Plant – a first in India, Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2016-17, ‘GreenPro’ certification for products (Tata Pravesh Steel Doors, Tata Structura, Tata Pipes) by CII, Authorized Economic Operator  (AEO) status (Tier 2) by the Directorate of International Customs (Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India), ‘Corporate Strategy Award’ by Mint (2018), Golden Peacock Award for Risk Management (2018) and Best Risk Management Framework & Systems Award (2019) by CNBC TV18. The Company also received the ‘Most Ethical Company’ award from Ethisphere Institute for the eight time (2019), Steel Sustainability Champion (2018) by the World Steel Association, Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards (2019), Golden Peacock HR Excellence Award by Institute of Directors (2018), ‘Best Companies To Work For’ recognition by Business Today, 'Asia's Best Integrated Report' award by the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards (2017), among several others.

Last year, the Company launched a corporate brand campaign #(WeAlsoMakeTomorrow).

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