Army starts ‘First Inter Services X-Country Championship-2022’ at Bir Billing

Dharamshala, Oct 29 – The First Inter-Services Paragliding X-Country Championship took off with a colorful opening ceremony Saturday at Bir Billing (Himachal Pradesh).
The Championship, a first of its kind, is being conducted at Bir Billing from October 29 to November 1, 2022, under the aegis of Army Adventure Wing.
Lt Col Devender Anand, PRO (Defence) told that Paragliding is primarily a recreational and competitive adventure sport. The ability of the paragliding flight to last many hours and cover large distances is, is of great importance to the Armed Forces, as it will facilitate aerial insertions behind enemy lines. Apart from encouraging competitive spirit, this inter-services competition will aim at achieving synergy among the services and also create a pool of trained pilots, who are specially trained for operational tasks behind the adversaries’ lines.

He said the opening ceremony was presided over by Brigadier AK Singh, who welcomed the paragliding pilots from the Services and expressed confidence that such an event will not only augment the efforts by the Army to provide an international-level arena to the paragliding pilots to hone and showcase their flying skills. He said this event will also aid in putting tourism of Himachal Pradesh on the front pages not only nationally but also on the international stage. The location is one of the best locations in the world, besides being the 2nd highest site in the world.
He said the day’s activities witnessed around 15 paragliding pilots from the Indian Army and Navy taking off from Billing and landing at Bir located approximately 13 to 14 Kms, in a display of their ability to navigate X-Country in the air. The pilots were cheered by the large spectators and local populace witnessing the competition.