DUSHANBE, August 2, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan seeks to host the next CIS mountaineering championship.

We will recall that the CIS mountaineering championship took place in Sughd’s Ayni district from July 16 to July 31 and mountain climbers from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Ukraine participated in the competition.

Tajik mountain climbers did not participate in the championship, because the Federation of Mountaineering of Tajikistan has failed to field a proper team for the competition; to participate in the competition, the team must qualify for it.

Mountaineers participating in the championship had to pass 35 mountain routes and ascend the Zamin-Qaror Peak located near the village of Margheb.

Russian mountaineers from Kransoyarsk won the competition and mountain climbers from Ukraine finished second.  Kazakh mountaineers took the third place.

Lochin Fayzulloyev, deputy head of the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism Affairs under the Government of Tajikistan noted that the holding of mountaineering competition of such level played an important role in popularization of mountaineering in Tajikistan.

According him, Tajikistan plans to lodge an application to host the CIS mountaineering championship next year.  Fayzulloyev expressed hope that Tajikistan would be represented in the next CIS mountaineering championship.