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Shooters stranded at Paris Airport

Trouble started after the shooters missed their initial KLM airlines flight from Atlanta.

Shooters Samresh Jung, Raj Chowdhary and Pemba Tamang missed their flight at Atlanta airport along with Gagan Narang and Jitu Singh (both not seen).

A rather fruitful week in Fort Benning, USA, ended on a bitter note for Gagan Narang as the London Olympics bronze medallist was left stranded at Paris airport along with Samresh Jung and a few other Indian shooters as they were refused permission to board their flight back home because they were carrying weapons.

Narang who was accompanied by Jung, Pemba Tamang, Jitu Rai and woman shooter Raj Chaudhary was returning from the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, USA, that concluded on Thursday. The shooter had finished fifth in the 50m rifle prone after recording a total of 143.9 in the final.

Trouble started after the shooters missed their initial KLM airlines flight from Atlanta. They were then booked on a Delta Airlines flight from Newark to Paris and then a connecting Air France plane to Delhi.

However the shooters were not allowed to board the connecting flight from Paris to Delhi. According to the shooters, Air France officials informed them that they did not have ‘weapon intimation’ and there wasn’t enough time to procure necessary permissions in before departure. The shooters then booked tickets on an Air India flight but were again prevented from boarding over the fact that they were carrying weapons. “(sic) This is unbelievable.

Air France didn’t take us on there flight and closed gates on us after we reached Paris from Newark. They say you were carrying weapons and delta didn’t inform us about this so you cannot board and time is short. They are now trying to relocate our guns and baggage. Next flight is after 24 hours unless someone does something and puts us on the air India flight which takes off at 10 pm French time,” Narang wrote on Facebook.

The shooters were eventually stranded at the terminal for close to 12 hours, slept on the benches and were not provided with food or accommodation. However, after much haggling, they were eventually allowed to board their flight late on Saturday.