54 World Paragliding Athletes Compete in Painan

Painan, W Sumatra - A total of 54 paragliding athletes from 10 countries are now participating in a four-day International Paragliding Championship at the Bukit Langkisau, West Sumatra district of Pesisir Selatan, starting Friday (April 26/2013). The ten participating countries are China, Malaysia, Serbia, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Slovenia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, said Pesisir Selatan district head, Nasrul Abit here on Friday. Two of the participants are the last year's male champion, Matjaz Feraric, hailing from Slovenia, and female champion namely Lis Andriana from Indonesia, Nasrul said. According to him, this is the first series of Paragliding Accuracy Worldcup (PGAWC) championship held in 2013. The second series will be held in Thailand, the third in Portugal, the forth and fifth in Europe and the sixth in Malaysia. Earlier, organizing committee chairman of the International Paragliding Championship, Tagor Siagian said that general chairman of the Paragliding Accuracy World Cup (PGAWC) and International Aerosport Federation (FAI), accepted the West Sumatra`s proposal to host the event considering the great interest of the Indonesian athletes in joining the paragliding along with the beautiful and challenging locations to fly. Top of Langkisau hill, about 500 meters high above sea level is one of good and famous paragliding arenas in West Sumatra province. The Bukit Langkisau paragliding arena is equipped with wide parking lot, villa and restaurant. (*) Reporting by Agung Pambudi