These are good days for Indian sport. But then, not all forms of sport get the same eyeballs and sometimes, sport lovers miss out on wonderful news in the Indian sporting arena because of the lack of awareness.
One such story is the bronze medal win for the Indian team, led by Captain PR Singh, in the recently-concluded 10th FAI World Paramotoring Championship (held from April 27 to May 6), considered the Olympics of paramotoring. It was conducted at Pa Sak Jolasid Dam, in Lopburi, Thailand. The event takes place once every two years, and was organised by Royal Aeronautic Sports Association of Thailand, under the aegis of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, World Air Sports Federation, the governing body for the sport, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland.
There are several reasons why the bronze medal should be lauded, especially in Hyderabad. The 10 participants, to start with, include two who hail from Hyderabad — the team leader, captain PR Singh who is a pilot for Indigo Airlines, and Sukumar Prabhu. There are three categories in the competition depending on the engine fitting — PF1 (Backpack), PL1 (Trike Solo) and PL2 (Trike Tandem).
The coveted medal was won by the Indian team in PL2, where you sit and fly the Trike and the engine is also fitted to it. The points are scored across three parameters — precision, which is about how you manoeuvre; economy, which is about maximising flying miles and duration with a calculated amount of fuel; and navigation, where teams have to pick points enroute their journey.
Now sample this — it is not a level playing field. More the number of Trike teams partnered in the Navigation event, more the points. Gold medal winners, Poland, had six pairs participating in this PL2 event, while silver medal winners, France, had three. India was represented by two Trike teams, PR Singh/Prakash Chive and Nitin Kumar/Sunil Choudary.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, the two teams staved off competition from better-stacked countries. One would wonder why numerical disadvantage is the case. ‘Paramotoring is expensive and participants have to bear their own costs,’ explains PR Singh, an enthusiast who received coaching at Ratnagiri Beach, Goa. The other coaching venue in India is at Kamshet, near Pune. ‘One has to win in Category 2, before qualifying for these Category 1 competitions,’ explains the captain, who had won silver medal in Navigation in an Asia-Oceania competition earlier.
Participants are selected by the Aero Club of India, in Delhi. ‘Each participant has to spend close to 7.5 lakh from his own pocket to bear their expenses during the championship,’ says the captain, giving one an idea of how this participation was more out of love for the sport than anything else.
When asked about the risk, captain PR Singh said, “It is not risky at all. The parachutes are efficient. Adventure sports aren’t risky, provided the rules and regulations are followed.”
When asked how we can improve awareness about the sport, he says, “We are trying to get some help from the state government and they seem to be interested to develop this sport.”
“The main hurdle is security concern, or so the regulation authorities feel about flying sports. Once we get rid of that misconception, we can evolve,” he signs off. Well, one would hope for the sake of adventure sport lovers in Hyderabad and in India, that this win would stoke the right improvements.
