Indian mountaineer Anita Kundu wins the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2019
Anita Kundu, a sub-inspector of police and passionate mountaineer, is the first woman to scale Mount Everest from both Nepal and China sides.
Indian mountaineer Anita Kundu will be awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2019 by President Ram Nath Kovind on August 29. The mountaineer, who hails from Hisar, Haryana, will be honoured with the award in the ‘Land Adventure’ category.
Anita Kundu (Image: Twitter)
Anita is the first woman to climb the Mount Everest, Earth’s highest mountain above sea level, from both Nepal and China sides, and works as a sub-inspector of police in the state.
“I am the first woman to climb Mount Everest from China and Nepal side. I am thankful for the government for this award,” Anita told ANI, expressing her happiness on being selected for the prestigious award.
Congratulating on Anita’s achievement, Haryana’s Director-General of Police Manoj Yadava tweeted, saying,
“I owe my success to my mother and my uncle, who took care of me after the untimely demise of my father when I was 13. I want to thank BJP Rajya Sabha MP RK Sinha’s SIS company for helping me financially in achieving my goals,” Anita told The Hindustan Times.
Along with Anita, parachute jump instructor Wing Commander Gajanand Yadava will also be conferred with the prestigious award. Gajanand is a member of the Indian Air Force’s skydiving team Akash Ganga. According to IAF, he has undertaken over 2,900 jumps so far.
The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award is regarded as one of the highest national awards for adventure sports in India. It is named after Nepali-Indian mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, who along with Edmund Hilary, was one of the first individuals to successfully scale Mount Everest in 1953.
Conferred annually, the prestigious award recognises the achievements of people in the field of Land Adventure, Air Adventure, Water Adventure, and Life Time Achievement.
The primary aim of the award is to provide an incentive to young adventurers. The awardees are presented with statuettes, certificates, and a cash prize worth Rs 5 lakh each.
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Edited by Suman Singh