Mountaineer Anita Kundu To Get Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award

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Akanksha Malhotra
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Mountaineer Anita Kundu To Get Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award
Image Source- GQ India

Indian mountaineer Anita Kundu will receive the 2019 Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award from President Ram Nath Kovind on August 29. The mountaineer from Hisar, Haryana, is awarded in the category ‘Land Adventure.’

Anita Kundu is the first woman to scale Everest Peak from both Nepal and China, the highest mountain on Earth, and serves as a State police sub-inspector.

“I’m the first woman on the side of China and Nepal to climb Mount Everest. I am grateful for this award from the government, “Anita told ANI, sharing her happiness at being chosen for the prestigious award.

Anita, who is a Haryana police sub-inspector, will be conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind with the distinction. “I owe my success to my mother and uncle, who took care of me when I was 13, following my father’s premature death. I want to thank the SIS company of BJP Rajya Sabha MP RK Sinha for helping me to achieve my goals financially.

The Director-General of Police Haryana, Manoj Yadava, congratulated Anita after the award was announced.

A 29-year-old Anita made history in 2017 by becoming the first Indian woman to climb the highest mountain peak in the world — Mount Everest — twice, once from Nepal and then from China.

She began her journey from the China side on April 11 and on May 21, 2017, and hissed the tricolor after facing a lot of challenges due to bad weather conditions. She had previously scaled Nepal’s Everest in May 2013.

Also scaled Aconcagua, South America’s highest mountain, earlier this year and hissed the tricolor on the summit.  With that achievement, as part of its seven-summit initiative, Anita has now scaled the highest peaks in six continents.

Family Of Anita Kundu

Anita battled poverty with her family moving to Hisar 11 years ago after her father’s demise. She was just 13. Her mother, Rajpath Devi, had raised the family through the selling of milk.

In addition to Anita, Wing Commander Gajanand Yadava was nominated for the 2019 Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award. The IAF officer is a Parachute Jump Instructor and a member of the ‘Akash Ganga’ skydiving team of Air Force, which has “taken over 2900 jumps to date,” the Indian Air Force tweeted.

The Tenzing Norgay Adventure National Award is considered to be one of India’s top national adventure sports awards. It was named after Tenzing Norgay (Nepal-Indian), one of the first individuals to successfully scale mountain range, Mount Everest, in 1953, along with Edmund Hilary.

The prestigious award, awarded every year, honors people’s accomplishments in the fields of Land Adventure, Air Adventure, Water Adventure, and Life Time. The primary goal of the award is to give young explorers an opportunity. Statuettes, certificates, and a cash reward worth Rs 5 lakh are given each to the award winners.

Cheers to the winners!

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