Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) is likely to provide technical support to the Odisha government, which has set up a world-class sport climbing facility at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
The premier Jamshedpur-based adventure outfit runs a full-fledged sports climbing cradle at JRD Tata Sports Complex.
The single artificial wall for speed, bouldering and lead categories in Bhubaneswar, which has been constructed as per the norms of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), will be inaugurated by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on February 25.
Promising Jamshedpur climber siblings Aman and Anisha Verma and a few more from the home state will give demonstrations during the inaugural ceremony.
TSAF senior manager Hemant Gupta, who had been to Bhubaneswar last week, held preliminary talks with Odisha government officials.
Though Gupta, a member of the east zone committee of Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) could not be reached for comments, TSAF officials said the outfit would provide a training module, fix timings for training, categorise the age group for trainees and other aspects related to sport climbing.
“Though talks are in a nascent stage now, the department of sports and youth affairs of Odisha has evinced interest to seek technical assistance from us. We will be happy to share our expertise,” a TSAF official said.
“We already have a tie-up with Odisha which involves taking rural youths from the state to outdoor leadership programmes in Garhwal Himalayas. Providing technical inputs would be just another job,” the official added.
An official of Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar Plant is currently co-ordinating with the Odisha government in sports climbing activities.
“Gupta has held talks with Odisha government officials. The talks were based on technical inputs needed for the sport climbing facility at Kalinga Stadium,” he said, adding the Odisha government has a tie-up with the IMF.
TSAF, which boasts separate walls for speed, lead and bouldering categories, was also planning to set up a climbing academy on the lines of Tata football and archery cradles.
