Guns land shooters in 'trouble' at Paris airport: sources

It was a nightmare for an Indian contingent, comprising Olympic medallist Gagan Narang and Commonwealth medallist Samresh Jung, that was heading back to India after the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Atlanta. En route, the team was stuck in Paris after airport authorities allegedly refused to fly them because they were carrying guns.

According to the sources, the shooters spent a night at the Atlanta airport because they could not be accommodated on a KLM flight. Finally, they travelled from Newark to Paris on a Delta Airlines flight but were not allowed to board the connecting Air France flight to India because the boarding gates had closed.

Narang posted on his Facebook page saying: "They (Air France) say you were carrying weapons and Delta didn't inform us about this so you cannot board and time is short."

Last heard on Saturday evening, the shooters were trying to board an Air India flight to India because the next Air France flight was 24 hours away. Air India officials said the issue was with Air France and airport security. Narang is an Air India employee.

Indians have done well at the ISSF World Cup so far with Heena Sidhu getting a silver medal in the 10-metre Air-Pistol event. The shooter, who is expected to rise to the top spot in the world rankings soon, also had to face some issues with the security staff after landing at the Atlanta airport and had to procure a license for her guns with great difficulty.

Shooters in India have been subjected to aviation security concerns in the past too, with a lot of confusion existing on whether they should be allowed to carry guns with them while flying.