“It was a fantastic competition in every
respect,” said Angela Nichols, a charming American sky-diver from the team
bearing a committable name of Golden Knights, after her demonstration parachute
jump. “I’m anxious to come here again next year.”
Angela’s impressions conveyed accurately
the moods and opinions of participants in the IPC Anton Malevsky Memorial World
Cup held in the Stupino aerodrome outside Moscow. The competitions lasted several
days during which sky-divers demonstrated their skill and enjoyed the friendly
atmosphere of the Cup, the cultural program, which was crowned with a gala
concert, featuring stars of the Russian and foreign variety stage, and also an
unprecedented aero-show presented by the Rus piloting group.
Anton Malevsky was a worthy man. He served
in the airborne troops, then became a prominent entrepreneur, sponsoring his
favourite parachute-jumping sport, which he took to at the a mature age. His
life broke off tragically in 2001 during sky-diving.
In 2002, in memory of their friend, the
Valery Chkalov Central Flying Club and Anton’s comrades organized international
competitions, which enjoyed such prestige that early this year they were
granted the status of a World Cup.
In the Stupino aerodrome Russian
parachutists performed admirably. The Russia-1 and Russia-2 teams took the
first and second places, respectively, in the team rating (both men’s and
women’s categories). The third places went to Byelorussian teams.
In the individual rating for the precision
of landing all prize-winning places were captured by representatives of Russia.
Dmitry Maksimov and Svetlana Klyonina won the champions’ titles.
Only in the group acrobatics the team of
Russia (Sky Panthers) had to be content with the third place. In this event the
day was carried by the US team – Deland Majik, last year’s winner. The second
place went to the Sinapsi PD team of Italy.
The World Cup attracted numerous
spectators, it is easy to surmise that with years the audience will grow in
size. And judging from appearances, it is not long before the problem of the
development of the guest infrastructure will have to be dealt with.
Alexander BUTSENIN.