Moradabad boy atop the world
Moradabad boy Raghav Joneja has become the youngest Indian at 15 years and seven months to scale Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. The student of Lawrence School in Sanawar, achieved the feat on May 21 along with five others from his school.
In doing so, Joneja broke the record set by Manipur’s Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba, at 16 years, seven months and 11 days. Chingkheinganba himself had lowered the mark by a week a month ago, bettering Delhi boy Arjun Vajpai’s mark by a week. “It feels really good to become the youngest Indian to summit such a tough peak,” Joneja said here on the day.
“We trained for around eight months for this expedition. Climbing the peak with my schoolmates made it little easier,” Joneja said of the expedition which was supported by India’s leading cycle manufacturer.
Joneja was initially not part of the 56-day expedition team which was shortlisted after testing the physical and mental endurance levels of the students.
But Joneja successfully convinced expedition team leader Colonel Neeraj Rana to allow him take part in the journey to the 8,848-metre high mountain peak.
“I requested our team leader to take me in the squad as I was really keen on taking up this challenge. I had to prove to them during our acclimatisation sessions at Ladakh that I can summit Everest. Only then was I allowed to become a part of this journey,” he said.
Along with Joneja, Ajay Sohal (17), Prithvi Chahal (17), Shubham Kaushik (16), Fateh Brar (16) and Guribadat Singh (17) successfully completed the expedition. One of their teammate, Hakikat Grewal, had to return after facing problems with his oxygen mask at a height of 27,600 ft.
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