Pre-World-Cup event happened at Bir Billing. Approximately 107 pilots including 12 women pilots from all over the country and 25 foreign countries participated in the event. It’s a very special event in India and of course, bringing big smiles on the faces of local people around this space. Many of the tourists prefer to visit the Palampur region during this time.
Jamil Messanger topped in the men’s category of the Paragliding Pre-World Cup Championships at Bir in the Kangra district, while Poland’s Klaudia Bulga Kow emerged winner in the women’s section. Besides a gold medal and a trophy, the first prize in the men’s category carried a cash award of Rs 2 lac 50 thousand while the amount of cash prize in the women’s section was Rs 75000. There was a particular category for Indians and Ajay Kumar Sharma topped in this category and was given a cash prize of Rs 1.10 lac. Another prize called the ‘talent prize’ was bagged by Kamal Kishore.
Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Mr Virbhadra Singh, was there at the Prize distribution ceremony. He hoped that the event would continue in great spirit in the future and would attract more participants from abroad. Virbhadra Singh assured that the matter regarding setting up of National Institute of Paragliding and Adventure Sports at Bir would be taken up with the Government of India. This is great news and wish that it happens soon. During the same time, Mr. Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh repeated that efforts would be made to develop an 18-hole golf course at Bir to make it an all-weather sports destination. However, I don’t understand the connection between Golf and Paragliding. Bir Billing is a proven place for Paragliding and unable to understand how it’s connected to the Golf course. let’s see.
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Bir
The paragliding site at Bir-Billing in Kangra district near Baijnath is considered one of the best paragliding sites in the world. Billing which is 2290 meters high, is the take-off site and Bir at around 1400 meters is the village at the landing site. The road distance between the two is 14 km.
Billing
The flights from Billing to Bir crossed through beautiful mountains facing a lush green valley and highway connecting Mandi with Dharmshala. The most important thing about this region is its weather and this is one of the main reasons that I dream of a house in Palampur which is quite near to this place. Usually during normal weather pilots fly around 100 kilometers.