Korea dominates 2nd FAI Asian PG Championships

The first FAI Category 1 event this year in the HG/PG arena was the 2nd Asian PG Championships, held in April at Nishiawa, Japan. Three tasks were validated, while another two tasks were stopped and cancelled. Strong winds and rain prevented tasks being set on another two days. Korea dominated the medal awards. 95 pilots from 7 countries competed, including 13 women. Taking gold overall was Chikyong Ha from Korea, followed by team mate Suyong Pi. In third position, winning the bronze medal was Kensuke Kozuma from the host nation, Japan. Korea took gold again in the Women’s championship, with Junghun Park leading over Japan’s Keiko Hiraki who received the silver medal and Nao Takada, also from Japan in third place. There had been some concern after the test event that the power lines in the vicinity of the launch and task area were a safety hazard. The FAI Steward, Leonard Grigorescu, reported that thorough briefings to pilots and good task setting minimised the problem. However, there were a number of mostly minor incidents at this event, two of which involved the power lines.