LUMS Student Becomes First Female Sports Climber to Represent Pakistan Internationally
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Amani Jannat, (BSc Economics 2025), a current student majoring in Economics at the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences, LUMS, has made history by becoming the first ever female sports climber to represent Pakistan at the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China, this year. Jannat was only 0.256 seconds away from qualifying for the final.
“If I had a chance to familiarise myself to the wall in Hangzhou, prior to the competition, I would have qualified,” says Jannat who is hopeful she will qualify next time. Nonetheless, she competed against highly experienced competitors, who had years of training and exposure to international competitions behind them.
Talking about her experience Jannat says, “Representing my country on an international stage did come with a lot of pressure. It is a big responsibility to maintain a reputation, being aware of every action and interaction with other participants.”
She recalls the experience to be extremely fulfilling, “It taught me a lot about what happens behind the scenes, how to carry oneself to the stage, overcoming the fear of competing against top athletes from across Asia, as well as learning some great techniques from them.”
Jannat’s journey from Lahore to the international stage started on a very interesting note. Her family was moving houses. She and her elder brothers annoyed her mother to an extent where her mother asked their grandmother to take them to a nearby park with a climbing wall. Eight-year-old Jannat climbed quite high and amazed her siblings as well as the administration of the new facility. From then, there was no looking back.
From her room’s window that opened into the same park with the climbing wall, Jannat kept a keen eye on billboards advertising sports climbing and would regularly inform her parents about them. Recognising her extraordinary capabilities, the staff at the facility would encourage her parents to participate. Jannat loved the sport. At 15, while she was participating in a local competition, the administration of the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited approached her to join their team. From then onwards, Jannat started to compete at the provincial and national levels. Today, she has a cumulative experience of 12 years in sports climbing and has secured over 20 victories at local, provincial, and national competitions.
She credits her parents on giving her the push and the confidence to take up the sport seriously. “My mother used to take me to a lot of competitions herself. In the past, only males would be selected for international sports climbing competitions but when the time came for the Asian competition, my father walked up to the federation and reasoned that females should be also considered.”
This was a turning point in her career in sports climbing when Jannat was selected on merit and would be representing Pakistan on the international front. The selection was followed by an intensive training that involved working out at three am in the morning, followed by a one-and-half hour gym session and a climbing session in the evening.
Having faced several challenges as the first female sports climber of Pakistan, Jannat wishes to make it easier for other females who are passionate about the sport. “I would love to help any other female who is trying to get into sport climbing; if anybody is interested, they can contact me directly. I would reiterate that one should not get discouraged but keep trying to change the mindset about females taking up this sport,” says Jannat.
Currently, she is preparing for the IFSC Asian Cup Riyadh, being held on December 12 this year. LUMS wishes her the best of luck for her future endeavours.
