After the successful conduct of the National Kite Festival at Beypore beach as part of the Beypore Water Fest recently, the One India Kite team is all set to steal the show at the 32nd Gujarat International Kite Festival that begins on Friday.
Leader of the Kite team Abdulla Maliyekkal told reporters here on Monday that 44 members of the team are representing Kerala in Gujarat. Shameem Paksan from Kozhikode will lead the 37-member men’s team while Shiji James from Idukki will lead the seven-member women’s team. The Kerala team is competing in international as well as national categories in the festival, he said.
“Kite flying has great possibilities in connection with tourism as we have witnessed in Beypore. More than 2 lakh people visited the kite festival in Beypore,” Mr. Maliyekkal said.
The Gujarat International Kite Festival is being held from January 7 to 14 at Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Rann of Kutch under the aegis of Gujarat Tourism and Incredible India. Around 200 kite flyers from 21 States and 12 foreign countries are taking part in it. The festival will see kite-making workshops, traditional kite flying contests from rooftops, exhibition of huge kites and sports kites.
The huge kites of One India Kite team such as flying saucer, duck, tiger, bear and fishes will be showcased in the festival. Sports kites that produce the sound of battle aircraft is the innovation that the Kerala team is planning to present there.
‘Kite yoga’
Meanwhile, the One India Kite Team, in association with District Tourism Promotion Council, is organising a demonstration of Kite Yoga at 4 p.m. on Wednesday near the Kozhikode beach open stage. The demonstration will be carried out by a three-member team from France. The team consists of Maxim David representing Globe Kiters, and Katiya Sen and Marie Pierrie representing Globe Yoga Kiters. Mr. Maliyekkal said that Kite Yoga is being showcased in India for the first time.
