Saturday, 18 November 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Tehri Acro Festival to be hosted by Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) from November 24 to 28 in the Tehri Lake area will feature participation of over 150 paragliders, including approximately 35 international participants. Sharing further details, the UTDB officials said that the upcoming five-day adventure sports festival has been recognised as India’s first international aerial acrobatics show and added that athletes would come from 24 countries besides India- Saudi Arabia, Greece, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Lebanon, Turkey, Spain, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Iran, Russia, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Taiwan, United States, Colombia, France, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
The festival is set to showcase various aerial acrobatics events and three international-level competitions, marking the commencement of paragliding activities in Tehri. The take-off points from Pratap Nagar, located at a height of around 1,400 metres, stand as the second highest in the world after Oludeniz in Turkey.
The State Tourism secretary Sachin Kurve stated that his department is offering free of cost training to the local youth of Uttarakhand. “Paragliding not only promotes adventure sports but also opens doors to new opportunities for employment. Our aim is to train over 100 skilled paragliders by the end of 2023. As we nurture these talents, we are not just creating paragliders; we are creating ambassadors for Uttarakhand’s natural beauty. This initiative aligns with our vision to make Uttarakhand a hub for adventure enthusiasts, attracting tourists from around the globe,” Kurve added.
Notably, UTDB inked an agreement with Paragliding Mantra, a paragliding training institute, to provide comprehensive, free training to the local youth, the goal of which is to train over 100 pilots by the end of this year, not just to promote adventure sports but also to create employment opportunities for the local youth, empowering them with skills.
