Darjeeling, Oct. 21: Oodles of talent but lack of funds is the problem facing a team of young mountain climbers, some of who have been selected to represent the country in the prestigious Asian championship.

After stealing the show at the 10th East Zone Sports Climbing Competition-2004, held at Jamshedpur on October 17, the seven climbers are now busy collecting subscription from the members of the Tenzing Norgay Climbing Club in Darjeeling. The money, if enough is collected, should see them through in the Nationals Sports Championship to be held at Delhi next month.

?We collect subscriptions to the tune of Rs 10 and 20 every month from the 30-odd club members and deposit it in the bank. The money is used to cover the expenditure of participating in any event since there are hardly any sponsors in this field. We had to compete on a shoe-string budget of Rs 15,000 at Jamshedpur. Now, there is hardly any money left for the nationals,? said Sonam T.S. Lepcha, team coach of the Tenzing Norgay Climbing Club.

Speaking on the performance of the team members, the coach said: ?Indrakala Subba bagged the first position in the Women?s Open (difficult) while Prashant Allay stood first in the men?s section. Allay, along with Ganesh Chhetri who stood third in the same category, has also been selected for the Asian Championship.?

The others include Sujan Limbu, who was placed third in the junior boy?s ?difficult? section, Tshering Wangel Bhutai, Norbu Tshering Bhutia and Manish Subba.

The group will participate in the nationals at the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, Delhi, between November 4 and 6.

The prime worry now is to organise funds.

Ironically, the team belongs to the hometown of Tenzing Norgay, the famous Sherpa who started off the Everest saga by scaling the peaks for the first time in 1953 along with the New Zealander Edmund Hillary.

?It is really difficult to get sponsors as adventure sports has still to come of age in these parts of the country,? said Jamling Tenzing Norgay, son of Tenzing and the chief patron of the club who provided the climbers with equipment.

Was the situation going to improve?

?I think it will take another five to 10 years to get the sponsors interested in this event,? smiled the son of the legendary climber, crossing his fingers.