Airline loses Rajyavardhan Rathore's
gun
The prospects of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in the World Shooting Championship suffered a setback after the marksman lost his costly Perazzi gun, the same weapon that won him the Olympic quota place two days
ago.
The Army Lieutenant Colonel finds himself in a spot of bother after the
airlines in which he was
travelling from Cairo to Delhi misplaced the gun which was part of his travel
baggage.
"A gun is not a normal baggage. Losing a gun at the airport means it is a security issue," Rathore told PTI.
"It is strange for the airlines to say we don't know where the gun is because all baggage are tagged and computerised and can be located."
What bothers Rathore is the fact that
trap shooter Ronjan Birendeep Sodhi too had lost his gun while travelling on the same airlines 10 days ago and was yet to find his gun.
The loss of the gun has put Rathore's participation in the ISSF World Cup in Germany from June 11 in doubt.
The major event for the shooter though would be the Shooting World Championship from July 30.
Even if Rathore gets a new gun at the earliest, he would need time to adjust to it.
But 36-year-old Rathore sought to play down the setback. "I still feel winning the Olympic quota is important. Frankly, I am not overly perturbed by this, am very happy that my performance in (Cairo) went well," the ace double-trap shooter said.