Dilip Kotecha, hailing from Pune died in a tragic accident in a test event prior to the paragliding world championships in Bulgaria on Sunday.

Kotecha was paragliding 120 mts above the terrain in Sopot, a location renowned as the best sport for Paragliding and Hang-gliding in Bulgaria. It was then that his glider collapsed and he went down spiralling towards the ground. His rescue parachute had also failed leaving him helpless to do anything but merely pray that he survive. However, his prayers were left unattended and he landed hard on the ground. He died soon with internal bleeding and other injuries.
Kotecha was a real-estate consultant who lived in Koregaon park along with his wife and two children.

44 year old ace paraglider, Kotecha had attended a paragliding course in 1995, which was then newly introduced in India. In just five years he had attended the first preparagliding world championship PWC, which was held in Bir, Himachal Pradesh. He regularly attended numerous competitions in India and in rest of the world, gaining the 5th rank among the Indian paragliders. He was also the first Indian to win a pre-PWC that was held abroad in Serbia, 2009.

(AW- Anil)