Shooters deprived of Brisbane stint

The Bangladesh Shooting Sport Federation (BSSF) has been forced to cancel its team's scheduled participation in the Commonwealth and Oceania Shooting Federation Championships in Brisbane after failing to get required permission for carrying arms and ammunition.

Four rifle and one pistol shooter from Bangladesh were supposed to fly out for Australia on Thursday to compete in the championships starting from today, but they had to stay back despite having taken a good amount of preparation.

“We have cancelled the trip to Australia because we did not get permission to carry arms from the Queensland Police Department,” BSSF chief executive officer Mustaque Weiz told The Daily Star yesterday.

“We applied for permission for carrying arms two months ago, but the decision is still pending. Hence we did not take the risk because carrying arms in Australia is a bit complicated compared to Europe where shooters can carry air guns to take part in competitions.”  

The Commonwealth and Oceania Shooting Championships are considered to be a test event for next year's Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast, Australia.

The five shooters -- Abdullah Hel Baki, Risalatul Islam, Rabbi Hasan Munna, Arnab Sarar and Shakil Ahmed – were supposed to be accompanied by coach Klavs Christensen. The Danish coach is a bit disappointed at missing out on the opportunity to see the progress of his charges.

“It's really sad for us not to be able to take part in the competition which would have been a good preparation stage for the shooters,” Christensen told reporters.

The shooters have been training under Christensen since last December with the aim of claiming medals in the 2018 Youth Olympics as well as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

The Bangladesh team will now prepare for the forthcoming 10th Asian Championship and Asia Youth Olympic Games Qualification, both of which will be held in Wako City, Japan from December 6 to 12.