Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra on Tuesday lashed out at the National Rifles Association of India for not coming to the aid of shooters, who were stranded at the IGI airport after their ammunition was denied clearance for several hours, PTI reported.
Saddened to hear that the National Shooting Team is detained at The IGI Airport with the customs refusing to clear their guns. 1/3
— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) May 9, 2017
They are our countries ambassadors and should not be treated like this. Would this ever happen to our cricket team ? 2/3
— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) May 9, 2017
Chatted with a few athletes and the lack of support coming through from the national federation is pathetic. @RaninderSingh @TheNrai
— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) May 9, 2017
The official team manager of the shotgun team left this morning leaving the athletes to fend for them selves.
— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) May 9, 2017
The Indian shooters were left stranded at the airport on their return from the World Cup in Cyprus. The team, which included the likes of Chain Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Kynan Chenai, had to wait for more than 10 hours before they were allowed to leave with their ammunition.
Earlier visuals of National Shooting Team members waiting at Delhi airport: Weapons of the team were seized by Customs, were later returned pic.twitter.com/alpRqLU8Gw
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 9, 2017
When asked why the shooters were made to wait for such a long time, additional commissioner at IGIA, Amandeep Singh said they were waiting for clearance from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence’s clearance. “We had to clear some things with the revenue department and hence the delay in clearing the shooters’ guns,” Singh said.
Shooters need to learn to live at airports before learning to shoot.
— Heena SIDHU (@HeenaSidhu10) May 9, 2017
Is this the way to treat our Olympians? This is mental torture before major tournament. I know how bad it feels as this has happened before.
— Anjali Bhagwat (@AnjaliOlympian) May 9, 2017
