Asian Games 2026: Joga Purty and Deepu Mallesh Ready To Scale New Heights For India In Speed Climbing

Debuts can be terrifying but for speed climbers Joga Purty and Deepu Mallesh, the thought of representing India at the Asian Games for the first time is more exhilarating than intimidating.

The 19-year-old Joga and experienced 28-year-old Deepu will present India's challenge in the niche sport that has been a part of the Asiad only since 2018 and became an Olympic event in the Tokyo 2020 edition.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, the two youngsters talked about their journeys and the challenges of picking up the sport before heading for the Asiad where their competitions will begin on September 29.

"I knew nothing about sport climbing. I had gone to see the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) Sport Climbing Academy (in Jamshedpur) with my brother and a few friends, who were into climbing. I was just curious to see the academy as I had not been there before," said Joga, whose father runs a small grocery shop from their family home in Jamshedpur.

"While there I ended up trying myself. A coach noticed my potential and told my brother to bring me again. Eventually it became a routine and my career," added the teen, who broke her own national record at the Asian Championships this year to finish inside the top-16 and qualify for the Games.

Climbing features three events -- lead, boulder and speed -- and all of them will offer individual medals at the Los Angeles. Boulder involves climbing low walls without ropes, lead competition is about scaling taller walls while clipped to ropes. The speed competition is a one-against-one race up a 15-metre wall with the fastest climber winning it.

For Deepu, the journey began close to two decades back. He loved sports and was trying his hands at everything when a coach at his school felt that climbing could be his calling. He has been active on the senior circuit since 2019.

"I started sports climbing when I was 11 or 12 years old. A coach introduced me to what sports climbing is. I was a very active child and I played other sports in school too. Once I got introduced to sport climbing, I thought this is a bit different from regular sports. My aim now is to compete at the highest level," said the National gold-winner.

"Right now my only passion is climbing. Most of my time is spent on training and coaching other kids," he added.

The Asiad Challenge

Deepu and Joga make for a truncated Indian climbing team for the Asiad. The original squad was of eight, which was trimmed keeping in view the selection criteria of being among Asia's top eight following directions from the Indian Olympic Association.

Joga said she is looking forward to the competition.

"I do feel the pressure of performance but more than that I am excited to compete at such a massive platform. I feel proud that people of my country would be watching me. More than pressure, I feel proud," she said.

Ditto for Deepu, Who Said he is Too Focussed to Think About Nerves

"I am excited actually not so much nervous. I am not putting too much pressure on myself but I want to deliver a good performance and feel that I gave it my 100 per cent," he said.

The two will only have a coach as their support staff and though they would have preferred to have additional support like a physio, they said performances would not be impacted.

"We can do it nevertheless. It is not that we specifically wanted it but had they been there, it would have been better," said Deepu, who is based in Bengaluru.

While Deepu's family was largely supportive of his career choice, Joga said she did encounter parental apprehension when she started.

"Initially they discouraged me because they felt a girl going for such a sport all by herself was probably not a good idea...but then my brother convinced them, he told them that I am good at it and gradually persuaded them.

"Eventually after I won a gold medal at the national level, and my picture appeared in local newspapers, my parents felt a sense of pride in my achievements and never stopped me after that," she recalled.

Climbing as a career

Ask them about the challenges they have faced in pursuing the lesser known sport, both played it down but acknowledged that it is not easy to pursue for those who don't have the kind of backing they got.

"I never really faced too many issues in terms of facilities as I was training at the Tata Steel Academy. I had support that's why I could pursue it otherwise I wouldn't have. It's a difficult sport to pursue because our equipment is a lot if we have to compete at the highest level," said Joga.

"I personally did not encounter too many problems but a lot of other climbers, who are good, I have seen them leave because they did not get facilities," she added.

Deepu said climbing is picking up in urban centres and he has observed growth in interest as well. However, for it to truly become popular, a better structure of support is needed.

Sports climbing in India has a national federation and was described as a sport worth focussing on by no less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently.

At the LA Games six climbing medals will be at stake and Deepu said moving ahead, more competitive exposure would be key to improvement.

"I think that access to facilities is not that difficult...The sport is growing in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune.

"But I would say that from an athlete's point of view, we are not getting enough support to go out and compete. That's what we are missing right now," he pointed out.