Indian Paragliding Team - Pilots
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Debu Choudhury
32 Years
Manali, Dist. Kullu, Himachal Pradesh
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 Debu Choudhury was born and grew up in Manali, he is of Indian/Italian origin. Debu has been flying paragliders in the Himalayas since he was 14 and growing up in Manali provided a perfect playground for paragliding and other mountain sports, including trekking which he has done around the area since childhood, so knows the area and the people very well. He is fluent in English, Italian, French, Hindi and Pahari (the local mountain dialect), and working on German at the moment.
His knowledge of the flying in north India is second to none since as he has been flying in the area for the last sixteen years, and with friends had first explored the area and different sites and pioneered many of the routes including the first flight from Bir to Manali with his friend Andy Harland, back in 2000. He’s now one of India’s most experienced competition pilot, having won the Indian national championships a handful of times and become a PWC regular. He’s also a world class acro pilot, and participated in the acro world cup circuit between 2004 and 2007. He holds the present Indian distance record with a 211 km Closed flat triangle flown in spring 2009.
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CURRENT UPDATE
25th to 30th June 2012
French Open - Millau, France
FAI Second Category Event
Cross Country
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 Competition results and achievements
 2012
February 2012 - Cross-Country Ru Open Cup 2012 - 2nd position out of 54 pilots 
March 2012 - PAI Summer Camp'12 - Progression clinic
More info
May 2012 - 10 days Bivouac flight in the alps
12th to 19th May - World Cup, Talloires, France
http://www.talloires2012.org/en/
Paragliding World ranking on 01/04/2012– 46th ( the highest ranking/Top 50 ladder - ever achieved by an Indian pilot)
2011
February 2011 - Nepal Open - 2nd position out of 60 participants
July 2011 - World Cup Turkey - 16th position out of 120 participants [More]
(the highest position ever achieved by an Indian at world cup level.)
British Open, France - 3rd position out of 110 participants [More]
Pre European Championships - 11th position out of 100 participants
2011 Paragliding World ranking – 55th ( the highest ranking ever achieved by an Indian pilot)
2010
July 2010 - Asian Championships, Japan - 9th position out of 95 participants, Team India 3rd place
British Open Slovenia, 15th position out of 150 participants
British open France, 30th position out of 150 participants
Indian League - WINNER
2010 Paragliding World ranking – 142
2009
14th April 2009 Set new Indian Record of 211km free triangle 
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/flightinfo.html?flightId=-1527555586
10th to 16th May - Czech Open 43rd position out of 100 pilots
18th to 24th May - Pre Europeans, Austria - 25th position out of 135 pilots
World Cup Croatia, 77th position out of 130 pilots
2008
Paragliding World Cup Italy, 54th Position out of 130 pilots
June 2008 Paragliding World ranking 87 and 61 in Paragliding Aerobatics
October - Pre World Cup India - 7th position out of 80 pilots
2008 Paragliding World ranking 89th
2007
Acrolac Acrobatics Competition, France - 15th position out of 35 pilots
The French Open, France - 20th position out of 130 pilots
The Czech Open, Italy - 67th position out of 130 pilots
Paragliding World Cup, Italy - 54th position out of 130 pilots
Nepal Open 2007- WINNER
2007 Paragliding World ranking- 111 and 39 in Paragliding Aerobatics
2006
June - Nordic Open, France, 12th position out of 130 pilots
June - Acrolac Aerobatics Competition, France, position 25th out of 35 pilots
June - Slovenian Open, Slovenia, 26th position out of 100 pilots
August - Acroaria, acrobatics competition, Italy - 25th position out of 30 pilots
August - 1st World Aerobatics Championships, Switzerland - 26th position out of 44 pilots
2006 Paragliding World ranking – 171 and 62 in Paragliding Aerobatics
2005
12th June - Nordic Open, France - 13th position out of 125 pilots
3rd July - Dutch Open, Spain - 58th position out of 125 pilots
16th July - Paragliding World Cup, Italy - 52nd position out of 125 pilots
25th July - Belgian Open, France - 10th position out of 50 pilots
14th October - Pre World Cup, Billing, India - 4th position out of 52 pilots
Indian National Championships WINNER
2005 Paragliding World ranking –168 and 73 in Paragliding Aerobatics
2004
Belgian Open, France - 20th Position out of 65 pilots
French Category A Competition - 17th Position out of 75 pilots
Acroaria Acrobatics Competition, Italy - 19th Position out of 22 pilots
Pre-PWC, Billing, India - 20th position out of 75 pilots
Indian National Championships - 3rd
Indian League - 2nd
Paragliding World ranking –569 and 72 in Paragliding Aerobatics
2003
Acrolac Acrobatics Competition, France. 25th position out of 30 pilots
Pre-PWC, Billing, India. 6th Position(overall) out of 45 pilots
Indian National championships - 2nd
Indian League - 2nd
Paragliding World ranking – 958 and 46 in Paragliding Aerobatics
2002
Pre-PWC, Billing, India - 20th position(overall) out of 50 pilots
Indian National Championships - WINNER
1999
Italian Triveneto Regionals - 5th position out of 70 pilots
1995
1st Indian National Championships - 5th
position
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Paragliding experience and qualifications
- Started Paragliding in 1994 at the age of 14
- Level P5 paragliding pilots license, issued by FAI
- FAI sporting license issued by Aero Club of India
- International Paragliding tandem license issued by Austrian paragliding federation
SPONSORSHIP
Debu Choudhury received sponsorship from NOKIA India in 2011.
I have been participating in the world cup since 2003 and it has always been my dream to come in the top 20, and this year it finally came true!!,i got 16th place in the recent world cup in Turkey, the highest position achieved by an Indian so far. For the last few years my equipment has not been up to date and i always found myself slightly disadvantaged, this year i finally have equipment which is on par with all the other competitors, this is partially thanks to Nokia India who have helped me financially this year so i was able to buy the latest wing and participate in a number of events. Many thanks to Nokia India for supporting me for this season. - Debu
For Sponsoring Debu in the coming season contact
Debu Choudhury - [email protected]
www.hi-fly.in
PG Forum India - [email protected]
Projects for 2012
To participate in as many World Cup events and Open cross country events in Europe during the summer of 2012.
This will include World Cup events in France, and Macedonia, the French Championships (one of the highest level comps in the world.) and the European Championships. (Usually reserved for only Europeans, but have managed to secure a place thanks to high world ranking.)
To try and better my Indian Distance record from 2009, which is 211 km, so ideally try for 250 km, which will also be the Asian distance record. (At present it is 227 km in Pakistan).
Progression Clinic
for PAI (Paragliding Association of India) in March-April 2012.
10 days Bivouac flight in the alps in May 2012
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Images 
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