01 Sep 2018

Japan and South Korea dominate Cross Country Paragliding at the Asian Games 2018

Well done to the South Korean women’s team and the Japanese men’s team, who claimed the first Cross Country Paragliding gold medals ever given out at the Asian Games last week.

They were joined on the podium by, in the men’s event, the Nepalese and Indonesian teams, and, in the women’s competition, by the teams from Japan and Indonesia.

Held in Indonesia, the 2018 Asian Games were the first to have paragliding on the programme. More than 100 pilots from 18 different countries flew in to take part, split into teams of five men or three women.

All teams had to participate in the two disciplines on the programme – Cross Country and Accuracy - in both of which only the top four daily scores counted in the men's event.

The Accuracy competition was first on the agenda. It was held in Puncak in West Java and included both individual and team categories, the results of which are detailed in this article published last week.

The Cross Country contest was also held in Puncak, around which the pilots competing flew 25km courses set above rainforest-covered mountains.

Overall, this year’s Asian Games was attended by 1.3 spectators and was watched on television by close to 2.3 billion viewers, making it a fantastic platform to share the joy of paragliding with a wider audience.

Thank you to everyone involved – and massive congratulations to all the medallists!