The Bangladesh Shooting Sports Federation was forced to cancel national team’s Australia tour for Commonwealth and Oceania Shooting Federation Championships as the local authorities refused to allow them carrying weapons, officials said on Friday. The competition is scheduled from October 30 to November 7 in Gold Coast, the host city of next year’s 21st edition of Commonwealth Games.
BSSF said the Queensland Police authority did not issue the permission for Bangladeshi shooters to carry their weapons, which forced them to cancel the tour.
Shooters Abdullah Hel Baki, Risalatul Islam, Rabbi Hasan Munna and Arnab Sarar and pistol shooter Shakil Ahmed and their Danish head coach Klavs Christensen were supposed to leave on Thursday.
‘It’s really sad for us not to compete in the
competition,’ Christensen said.
Risalatul, who managed gold in the 10metre air rifle event of just-concluded National Shooting Championships, was also disappointed for not getting the opportunity.
‘Actually we considered this competition as one of the preparatory events for the next year’s Commonwealth Games,’ Risalatul said.
‘We also had a good preparation for this tournament but for some unavoidable reason federation had to cancel the participation.’
Bangladesh team will now prepare for the forthcoming 10th Asian Championship and Asia Youth Olympic Games Qualification as the both competitions will be held in Wako City, Japan from December 6 to 12.
-With New Age input
