Bir in Himachal Pradesh is a town that was only formed a little over three decades back and now, on Friday, the foundation stone was laid in this small town’s rise to international fame.
The first ever Paragliding World Cup opening ceremony was held at Sherabilling Monastery on Friday to inaugurate the grand event in the presence of the chief guest Civil Aviation Chief Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju along with numerous other dignitaries.
As one made it’s way to the small town, you could notice the hard work that had gone into preparation of the tournament where 129 pilots from 31 countries would vie for the trophy and qualify for the Super Cup in 2016. The roads have been recently fixed, the paint on the side of the road had just dried, a makeshift cell tower and ATM had been installed in the center of the square which was seeing more activity than it possibly had ever seen. Although, this isn’t the first big event here because it had hosted the pre-World Cup in 2013.
And two years later, the location has risen to second best paragliding site in the world and one of the standards to host a World Cup with top gliders competing along with numerous other free riders.
Much of the credit for it’s rise would go to Sudhir Sharma, President of Bir Paragliding Committee and Himachal Pradesh’s Urban and Development Minister. Speaking at the opening ceremony, he thanked the sponsors and the government for their support in hosting such an event.
“This won’t have been possible without the support of our sponsors and the state government. We’re also thankful to the global body, FCAI, for their trust in us - a small organisation and town - in hosting an event of such a scale. It was a huge task for a country such as ours where we needed to create awareness of the sport and its safety. Now, we’re here.
“And what better place to start an event than at this holy place. We would like to thank the holiness for allowing us to hold the opening ceremony here,” he said.
Sharma also shared that the advent of handgliding in 1984 was the cornerstone of paragliding becoming popular here.
The glittering opening ceremony began with monks praying for world peace. There were numerous performances that kept a sizeable crowd entertained throughout. Prince Dance Troop, famous for multiple TV performances, was the first to take stage followed by a bharatnatyam act by young monks along with traditional Tibetan dance performances. Himachal’s culture was embraced with dances by children and a melodious singing act by local talent Sunil Rana.
The world cup starts today and runs till 31st October where the eventual winner be declared in numerous categories. Each day, every participant will be given a task to perform and then using GPS co-ordinates, their result will be documented. At the end of the seventh day, all these numbers will be combined to reach at an eventual winner.