Slovenian to defend Paragliding Accuracy World Cup title

Defending champion, Matjaz Ferarci, is in to defend his title against 65 paragliders in this year’s Paragliding Accuracy World Cup Sabah which begins today.
The Slovenian, who just turned 53 about four days ago, is also second in the world ranking. He is in the state after a paragliding trip in Indonesia earlier this week.

Held on the hilly area in Kampung Lohan, here, about 120 kilometres from Kota Kinabalu, it is considered as a sport for the future which has great potential in the sport tourism product for Sabah.

“Sabah can add another to its extensive list of tourism products,” said the event’s deputy chairman, Lieutenant Colonel (R) Basir Ab Rahman.

He said there is much potential to develop aviation sports particularly paragliding in places like Ranau and other sites in Sabah.

Malaysia, he added, has won the bid to host the second Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) Asian Paragliding Championship in 2014.

“Our plan is to bring FAI World Paragliding Accuracy Championship to Malaysia by 2015,” he said.

The participants, coming from 13 countries, will be competing in four categories, namely the Individual Open, Individual Women Open, Team Open and Individual Malaysia Open, offering cash prizes amounting to RM21,600.

Paragliding has been widely accepted in all European, East Asian and American nations, which naturally attracts a huge market for the tourism industry because of the sport’s popularity.

The natural geographical landscape in Sabah makes the state an ideal location to host the event, said Basir.

Sabah Tourism Board chairman Datuk Seri Tengku Zainal Abidin marked the launching ceremony by flying in tandem with some 30 people, yesterday.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/03/17/slovenian-to-defend-paragliding-accuracy-world-cup-title/#ixzz1pdy4pkUq