First-ever AAI Paragliding World Cup will be hotly contested by as many as 130 top paragliders from across 40 countries in Himachal Pradesh’s Bir Billing from October 23. The tournament which has been drawing a lot of excitement had its mascot and trophy unveiled in the national Capital on Monday.
Sudhir Sharma, president of Billing Paragliding Association, considers this a major coup. “For us to bid and get the World Cup is a big thing. Then we got Airports Authority of India (AAI) on board. Few tasks are still ahead of us now: to educate people about the sport and get support for it to grow further,” he said.
Boasting of a star-studded lineup, Bir Billing — 40 kms from Kangra — will play host to crème de la crème of the aero sport world. India will field eight pilots — Ajay Kumar Sharma, Gurpreet Dhindsa, Vijay Soni, Prakash Chand Thakur, Arvind Paul, Sanjay Thakur, Gautam Nath and Jyoti Prakash — in the event. Detailed report on P16