Paragliding pre-World Cup in HP in October

Himachal Pradesh will hold a week-long Paragliding Pre-World Cup at Bir-Billing in the district from October 14 to 20 this year in which over 100 participants will take part.

The Aero Club of India has been granted approval for the event which has also been given the category II status by Federation Aviation International (FAI), Commissioner Tourism Ram Subhag Singh disclosed here today. He said Aero Club of India has granted its sanction to hold the Pre World Cup at Billing and issued a no objection certificate.

He said FAI has recognized the event and has granted it a 'Category-II Status' in international ranking.

Mr Singh said the event would be held in association with the Paragliding World Cup Association (PWCA) and would be conducted according to its guidelines and that of the Aero Club of India (ACI), the national sports body. He said PWCA has approved the event and 120 pilots from 21 countries have got their names registered for participation in the preliminary rounds. He said that thereafter 85 pilots would be short listed for participation in the final round.

He said in the beginning only 60 pilots would be short listed but the limit would not cross 85 in any case. He said that interestingly the number of women pilots had gone up this year and so far twenty women pilots, both foreigners and Indian have registered their names for the event.

He added that he would hold a meeting here on September 11 and 12 to finalise the security measures and other arrangements for the event and along with the district officers would visit the site to assess the situation on the spot.

He said to make the event more attractive for the pilots the prize money this year has been increased from Rs.50,000 to Rs one lakh.

Bir and Billing site for the event is regarded the best in the world for paragliding with the bald rise of Billing (2600 m), the take off site and Bir (2080 m), the landing area.

Mr Singh said Billing offers opportunities for high altitude and cross country flying for more than 200 Kms. He further said the world record for out and return paragliding was set at Bir-Billing by Frenchman Xavior Redmond when he flew 132.5 Kms.

-- (UNI) -- 07SPD36.xml

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