German Pilot wins at Paragliding Pre World Cup in India

German pilot wins paragliding Pre World Cup,Event concludes.

Andreas Malecki of Germany emerged as the overall champion at the meet concluded at Bir-Billing.The Chief Minister addressing the closing ceremony of week long Himalayan Paragliding Pre-World Cup-2008 at Bir Billing in Baijnath, Kangra announced that 4.28 crores would be spent for upgradating the infrastructural facilities to organize international paragliding World-cup facilities in Bir Billing.Malecki was given a cash award of Rs.100,000 by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

While Torsten Seigel of Germany finished second, Miha Razinger of Slovenia stood third.He said that Himachal as a state had tremendous potential for carrying out tourism related activities like para-gliding, trekking, mountaineering, mountain tracking, river rafting etc and congratulated the organizers for successful organization of the event and the participants as well.The first Pre-World Cup Event was organized in the year 2002 and has gained popularity with every passing year. The event gave away prizes to the winners and participants of the event and also congratulated them for the achievement.The take off site at Billing, situated at a height of 2,290 metres, offers an opportunity for high-altitude and cross-country flying in the Bir valley.The valley, located at a height of 1,480 metres, is surrounded by tea gardens and majestic Dhauladhar hills. The road distance between the two locations is 14 km.A world record was made at Bir-Billing in 1992 by French pilot Xavier Remond, who flew 130.9 km to set the “out and return world record”.The Federation Aviation International (FAI) recognises the pre-world cup at Bir-Billing and has granted it a ‘Category-II Status’ in the international ranking.(Saransh Sehgal/Mcllo.com/India)