Stories of injustice in India's sports sphere is not a thing of the past. When Olympic sports aren't spared, to see paragliding stand as a dejected soul at the end of a long queue is no surprise.
The recently concluded Paragliding World Cup brought a welcome movement for the adventure sport that yearns for some dynamism in India. But where it gets a knock at the knees is when you come across fighters like Gurpreet Singh Dhindsa who, despite giving their heart and soul to the sport, remain unwanted and subjected to outsider treatment.
The man from Punjab has given up almost everything for his love of flying - keeping little in reserve for his daughter and spending everything else to pursue paragliding, even now when he is touching 50.
The grey in the beard of India's No. 1 ranked paraglider is clearly visible, but Punjabi genes are never at anybody's mercy. That's what Gurpreet is made of. Beneath that flesh and blood is a never-say-die spirit that hardly lets any blow knock him down.
From a learner at the Pinjore Flying Club over two decades back to being India's only certified instructor today, Gurpreet has six podium finishes at world stage, spends around Rs 5 lakh every year from his pocket to compete, gets no acknowledgement from Indian paragliding associations and is considered an outsider by the people of Himachal Pradesh. But nothing stops this broad frame from earning his stripes.
14/11/15 Jaspreet Sahni/IBNLive.com
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The recently concluded Paragliding World Cup brought a welcome movement for the adventure sport that yearns for some dynamism in India. But where it gets a knock at the knees is when you come across fighters like Gurpreet Singh Dhindsa who, despite giving their heart and soul to the sport, remain unwanted and subjected to outsider treatment.
The man from Punjab has given up almost everything for his love of flying - keeping little in reserve for his daughter and spending everything else to pursue paragliding, even now when he is touching 50.
The grey in the beard of India's No. 1 ranked paraglider is clearly visible, but Punjabi genes are never at anybody's mercy. That's what Gurpreet is made of. Beneath that flesh and blood is a never-say-die spirit that hardly lets any blow knock him down.
From a learner at the Pinjore Flying Club over two decades back to being India's only certified instructor today, Gurpreet has six podium finishes at world stage, spends around Rs 5 lakh every year from his pocket to compete, gets no acknowledgement from Indian paragliding associations and is considered an outsider by the people of Himachal Pradesh. But nothing stops this broad frame from earning his stripes.
14/11/15 Jaspreet Sahni/IBNLive.com
