No wings over Billing this year

There will be no International Paragliding World Cup Championship at Bir-Billing this year, as the Himachal Pradesh government and its Tourism Department have shown no interest in hosting the event. The decision has come as a blow to hundreds of adventure sports enthusiasts and international pilots who flock to the world-famous paragliding site every year.

Over 300 pilots from India and abroad were expected to participate in the annual championship, jointly organised in recent years by the state Tourism Department and the Bir-Billing Paragliding Association (BPA). However, the association’s president, Anurag Sharma, confirmed that no official intimation or communication has been received from the government regarding this year’s event. Repeated attempts to reach senior officials of the Tourism Department have reportedly gone unanswered.

A Paris-based body, the Paragliding World Cup Association (PWCA), which manages the global calendar of events, has also not listed Bir-Billing in this year’s championship schedule. Officials said no application was submitted from India to host the event, effectively ruling it out for 2025.

Before 2017, the event was organised privately by the BPA and included only pre-World Cup competitions. It was under former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that the full-fledged World Cup was brought to Himachal, putting Bir-Billing on the global adventure sports map. The event significantly boosted local tourism and the state’s image as a premier destination for paragliding.

The championship, traditionally held in October or November, has faced disruptions in the past. In 2021, the BJP government cancelled it due to overlapping events such as the investors’ meet in Dharamsala. The first government-backed edition was successfully held in 2018 under the leadership of the Baijnath SDM.

This year’s cancellation marks another setback for Himachal’s adventure tourism scene, raising concerns over the state’s diminishing commitment to global sporting events.