UAE pick up gold, 3 bronze medals at WAG 2015

Mihai leads from the front as hosts make an impact in Canopy Piloting while in the Powered Aerobatics category Russian pilot Mikhail Mamistov occupied second place with a total of 10,232.87

6 December 2015

The UAE picked up their first medals on the sixth day of competition at the 2015 FAI World Air Games (WAG) being held at various drop-zones in Dubai.

The hosts picked up a gold and three bronze medals in the Parachuting Canopy Piloting at the end of the sixth day of competition on Saturday.

The UAE finished with the third spot after the USA and France in the team event while it was Cornelia Mihai returning home with a gold and two bronze medals in the individual categories of Parachuting Canopy Piloting.

In Parachuting Canopy Piloting, each individual is required to make landings while accounting for speed, zone accuracy and distance in each of the jumps. While each individual gets his scores credited against his or her name, the cumulative total scores of the participants representing the country are added towards the team total.

Continuing with their dominance on the second successive day was the American duo of Curtis Bartholomew and Nick Batsch as they battled each other till the very end before Bartholomew walked away with the overall gold with a total of 855.382 points, while his teammate settled for silver with a total of 838.612 points. Mihai fell short of the silver by a little over two points after she finished with a total of 836.805 points.

The UAE pilot also took home the bronze in the Canopy Piloting Speed category after she finished with a total of 282.797 points leaving the Americans for the top two positions. Batsch finished with a total of 300 points while Bartholomew ended with 290.395 points and the silver medal.

Mihai came back strongly and took gold in the Canopy Piloting Distance category with a total of 298.008 points, followed by Guillaume Bernier of France with 284.865 points and the silver medal, while Pablo Hernandez Moll took the bronze medal with a total of 275.248.

The UAE missed out on medals in the Canopy Piloting Zone Accuracy category with Abdul Bari Qubaisi finishing in sixth place, followed by Mihai and Hernandez in tied seventh spot with 256 points. Bartholomew went on to win the gold in this category with a total of 292 points, followed by Christian Weber Jensen of Denmark and Batsch in second and third, respectively.

Mihai and Qubaisi may not be in a position to bring home another medal as they are in seventh and eighth places, respectively in the Canopy Piloting Freestyle category — that is also being dominated by the American duo of Batsh and Gage Galle.

Meanwhile, in the Powered Aerobatics open for eight of the best pilots from across the world, Frenchman Olivier Masurel maintained his position at the top with a total of 10,416.86 points and a percentage of 76.426. His teammate Aude Lemordant was pushed into fourth as Russian pilot Mikhail Mamistov occupied second place with a total of 10,232.87 and a percentage of 75.076, while Poland’s Artur Kielak was third with a total of 10,024.03 points and a percentage of 73.544.

In the Glider Aerobatics, Italian Luca Bertossio continued at the top with a total of 4,241.32 points followed by Ferenc Toth of Hungary and Premysl Vavra of the Czech Republic in second and third places respectively.