Paragliding World Cup gets off to a flying start

Billing (Dharamsala), November 2

Paragliding World Cup at Bir Billing in Kangra district got off to a flying start today afternoon with over hundred pilots taking off from Billing site filling the skies with colourful paragliders. Over 105 paragliding pilots from across the world, including eight women pilots, have registered for the event and would be competing in various categories in the next five days till November 7 in the World Cup.

Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) RS Bali flagged off the event at the Billing. While addressing the participants and other people at the spot, he said that the Himachal government was giving a push to adventure tourism in the state. Hosting the paragliding World Cup, in which participants from 38 countries were taking part, would help Himachal emerge as a major destination for adventure sports. The Himachal government has made a roadmap for promoting tourism in the state and its results would be seen in near future.

Bali announced a grant of Rs 31 lakh for the Bir Paragliding Association which is hosting the paragliding World Cup event. He said that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had directed him to extent all possible help for hosting the Paragliding World Cup. Welcoming the paragliding pilots from foreign countries, he said that the people of Himachal were together in welcoming them to the state.

Goran Dimishkivski, president of Paragliding World Cup Association, said that it was the second time that the World Cup event was being held in Bir Billing. The Paragliding World Cup in Bir Billing was held for the first time in 2015. The paragliding pilots from across the world love flying from Billing which is among the best paragliding take off sites of the world. “I hope that in the near future Paragliding World Championship, which was the biggest event in the sport, would also be held at Bir Billing,” he said.

President of Bir Paragliding Association Anurag Sharma, while thanking the government and the tourism department for helping them in organising the World Cup, said that Bir Billing was emerging as a top paragliding site in the world. The association was trying to host more and more events at Bir Billing to attract paragliding pilots from the across the world.

Due to organisation of Paragliding World Cup, Bir Billing was buzzing with domestic and foreign tourists. Most of cafes and hotels in the area were packed with tourists and doing brisk business.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) and Congress MLA from Biajnath Kishori Lal and former MLA Surinder Kaku were also present at the inauguration ceremony.

Kishori Lal demanded that for the benefit for tourists coming to Baijnath temple a lift should be installed at the temple parking. Bali announced that the tourism department would install a lift at Baijnath temple parking.