The week-long event, which will see a veritable feast of Aero Sports at one of the most natural locations for the sport at Bir Billing, about 40 km from Kangra, will see three of the four world's top-ranked pilots, besides the top-3 from Oceania-Asia and top-2 from Africa and one of the most successful woman pilots in a field that has 130 pilots from over 35 countries.
The event will be held at Bir Billing from October 23-31.
The venue Bir-Billing often referred to as a "Paradise for Paragliders" is considered one of best launch sites for the sport in the world.
While announcing the participation of the world's best 130 pilots, including an Indian team of seven pilots, the organisers also unveiled the customised AAI Paragliding World Cup Trophy and the mascot, which is the Snow Leopard, the state animal of Himachal Pradesh.
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R K Srivastava, Chairman, Airports Authority of India, said, "We are extremely pleased to be associated with the Paragliding World Cup. For quite some time we were looking for a sport that was in sync with our specialisation, which is aviation. And paragliding fits perfectly with that. Also Adventure Sports has become hugely popular among youth. We plan to start with paragliding and take Adventure Sports in India to a new level."
Supported by Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Preity Zinta, director/producer Mahesh Bhatt and cricketer Yuvraj Singh, the World Cup also aims to take the sport across India and promote Tourism through Adventure Sports.
One of the highlights of the week will also be Tandem Flights for children with special needs. They will be taken into the skies by experienced pilots and given a unique "once-in-a-lifetime" experience.