International paragliding tourney concludes at Bir Billing
Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was present as the chief guest on the concluding ceremony of the international paragliding tourney. Director of the Bir Billing Paragliding Association Anurag Sharma said a total of 142 pilots from 10 countries, 95 men and eight women, took part in the tournament.
International Accuracy Paragliding Pre-World Cup-2023 concluded at the famous paragliding site Bir Billing in Kangra district on Sunday with Nepal pilots winning in the men’s category and the team event.
Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was present as the chief guest on the concluding ceremony. Director of the Bir Billing Paragliding Association Anurag Sharma said a total of 142 pilots from 10 countries, 95 men and eight women, took part in the tournament.
Nepal teams won the first and second positions in the team category while Team Dev Pashakot Adventure stood third.
In men’s category, Nepal’s Aman Thapa and Bishal Thapa bagged the first two positions respectively while Chitra Singh was adjudged third.
In the national level event Chitra Singh was the winner while Amit Kumar and Sohan Thakur remained 2nd and 3rd.
In the women’s category, Alisha Katoch bagged the 1st position followed by Rita Shreshtha at 2nd position and Aditi Thakur 3rd.
Speaking on the occasion, Sukhu said that Bir Billing was the world’s best site for paragliding, which has gained international recognition. He said that Bir would be promoted from the point of view of tourism and a proposal would be prepared soon and to facilitate the better organization of paragliding competitions, land would be acquired around the landing site.
Sukhu said that the state government would consider organizing a carnival in Bir, in order to promote tourism. Along with this, he announced to upgrade Police Chowki Bir to Police Station and said that in future Polytechnic College would be opened in Baijnath, in which new technical courses would be introduced. He said that soon the state government would announce to make Kangra the tourism capital, for which the complete blueprint was being prepared. The airport was being expanded to promote tourism in Kangra, he added.
The CM congratulated the Billing Paragliding Association for organizing the event.
Earlier, chief parliamentary secretary Kishori Lal welcomed the chief minister and said that he has taken major steps to improve the economy of Himachal Pradesh, so that the state could become self-reliant.
Later, the CM presented cash prizes to all the winners. Total of 103 pilots from five countries participated in the competition.
Chief parliamentary secretary Ashish Butail, MLA Yadvinder Goma, chairman, HP Agriculture Development Bank, Sanjay Chauhan, former MLA Ajay Mahajan, deputy commissioner, Kangra, Nipun Jindal, deputy commissioner, Mandi, Arindam Choudhary were among others present on the occasion.