India can expect Olympic medal in Bouldering at 2020 Tokyo: Tuhin (IANS Interview)

The sport of Bouldering is not very popular in the country, but that may be about to change as India's finest climber Tuhin Satarkar is positive of clinching a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Tuhin, who has represented India at several international platforms, said he his working hard towards his dream and is hoping that fortune will smile on him at the 2020 Games.

Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed on large boulders or other small rock formations, without the use of ropes or harnesses.

"Yes, I mean since climbing has been included in the 2020 Olympics now, everyone has been really training hard, I am pretty sure if you know it's quite a few years from now on to the Olympics, so we definitely can expect a lot of people, who have been training really hard, so yes," Tuhin, who was a national Bouldering champion in 2011, told IANS.

Many tournaments have artificial structures while some have natural ones. Tuhin however, asserted that he faces now problems in adjusting to different surfaces.

"Frankly speaking even climbing is getting into artificial competitions now, so this environment is not really new for me.

"The climbing competition has been happening in the artificial format also, but it is also good to see so many people coming here, it's a very competitive atmosphere, I really like it here," the 22-year-old from Pune said.

Fitness is an important factor in the sport, commenting on how he maintains it, Tuhin, who twice represented the country at the Asian Youth Championship in Iran and in Singapore, said: "What I believe is I just need to keep climbing all the time. Climbing is a whole-body workout so I don't need to do any kind of exercises."

"It's just that I need to keep climbing and Red Bull keeps me pushing you know and keeps me going through the sport because Bouldering requires a lot of strength and endurance also, by the end of the day you are exhausted," he added.

The Red Bull sponsored athlete also spoke about his association with the Red Bull 'Jod Ke Tod', a vertical race usually organised a week prior to Gokulashtami which took place on Sunday in Mumbai, aims at giving the popularly celebrated community festival sporting makeover.

"I have been with Red Bull Jod Ke Tod from last year and it's been a great experience here and you know it's kind of related to climbing also because it goes very similar to climbing I really love the spirit here," Tuhin said.

"Red Bull 'Jod Ke Tod' is like the fastest vertical race, a sportive makeover of the Dahi Handi Festival with safety measure (on mats and safety gear) also encouraging women participation," he added.

(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.sharma@ians.in)

--IANS

gau/ajb/vm