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Kila Raipur Games: Paraglider takes rural games a notch up
A 47-year-old farmer-turned-professional was the centre of attraction on the concluding day of the Kila Raipur Games on Sunday, who showcased his skills with an aim to encourage people in the region to take up the adventure sport
A 47-year-old farmer-turned-professional was the centre of attraction on the concluding day of the Kila Raipur Games on Sunday, who showcased his skills with an aim to encourage people in the region to take up the adventure sport.
An aimless desire to experience what it feels like to be a bird 17 year ago led Gurcharan Singh to become a trained flyer. He started taking lessons in paragliding at the age of 30.
With a record of being in the air for over 2.5 hours, he has come to be known as flying Sikh, which is also the name of his Youtube channel where he posts his adventures of flying in different cities of Punjab and neighbouring states.
He said that despite having great potential, adventure sports including power paragliding have not got the attention of people in the region.
“I am visiting the games for the last seven years to showcase his skills and have trained a number of youth in the art so that they can also fulfil their dreams of flying in the sky safely,” he added.
Several veteran players, who have made the eventful journey from playing on the village grounds to the international platforms, including the Olympic Games, also cheered for the players and motivated them.
Hardeep Singh Grewal, who was part of the Indian hockey team at the 1984 Summer Olympics and obtained the fifth position, was among such players.
Another sportsman, Harbhajan Singh, who is also a part of the organising committee since 1965, said that there was a great chance that the players performing well at the games would be noticed by the selectors which was one of the factors behind the popularity of the games along with rural sports such as bull races.
The exhibition of daring acts by the participants hailing from across the state continued on Sunday. Rajinder Kumar lifted plates weighing 63 kg with his ears and Jagdeep Singh Matoi pulled a car with his teeth.
76-year-old, Rai Singh and 75-year-old Hardum Singh also displayed their prowess. A farmer, Rai Singh, lifted a sack weighing 2.2 quintals on his back, while Hardum Singh challenged young gym freaks to defeat him in pushups.
The girls’ team representing Swatch Academy from Sonipat bagged the title trophy of the hockey competition and took home the prize money of ₹75, 000.
In the men’s category, the Kila Raipur team bagged the title by beating the Shahabad Markanda’s team by 2-1 (1-1) goals through a tiebreaker.
Punjab girls earned the winning trophy after defeating Haryana 26-18 in circle Kabaddi.
