Dubai: More than 1,000 competitors from across the world have confirmed entry for the fifth Dubai International Parachuting Championships (DIPC) to be held at the Skydive Dubai Palm drop zone from November 26 to December 7.
Held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman, Dubai Sports Council (DSC), the fifth edition promises to be much stronger and bigger than the previous four years.
As per the schedule, the jumpers are scheduled to start arriving on November 26 and the first two days have been reserved for free practice jumps at the Skydive Dubai facility on The Palm. This year there will be a special conference for judges and team managers followed by a meeting for heads of delegations on November 27.
The actual competition will start at 9am on November 28 while the official opening ceremony has been scheduled after 6pm the same day.
“Once again we are thrilled to see the line-up of competitors for our annual competition. One of the main aims of organising this event is to promote safety and develop parachuting in the UAE under ideal conditions, while also giving our youngsters the opportunity to share knowledge and experience with the best jumpers from across the world,” Nasser Al Neyadi, President, Emirates Aerosport Federation (EAF), told Gulf News.
“Last year the UAE won two gold medals and this was a huge achievement for a young nation like ours. I am sure our jumpers are eager to go better than what they did last December.”
The annual competition will be organised in various disciplines with each country allowed to field squads as per guidelines laid down by the technical committee.
In the Accuracy Landing discipline each male and female team can have five competitors and up to five juniors, while in the Formation Skydiving, each country will be allowed to field six competitors including a videographer in the team four-way open and vertical formation competitions and up to ten jumpers in the eight-way contest.
In the Canopy Formation, each nation can field two teams in the two-way Sequential with eight competitors and one team each in the four-way Rotation and Sequential with six competitors each, while in the Artistic Events, each country can field two teams in the Freestyle Skydiving with four competitors and in the Freeflying each team can have a maximum of six jumpers including a videographer.
“We are expecting yet another successful and loaded competition that will attract worldwide attention for Dubai,” Al Neyadi said.
