Going for Nationals, Indian shooter stopped at Delhi airport

Shooter Arjun Singh Cheema, stopped for carrying his pistol, was allowed to go ahead with his departure after waiting for one hour.

Representative image of the sport of shooting (Reuters)

New Delhi: India shooter Arjun Singh Cheema was on Saturday detained at the capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport as the airline officials refused to clear his ammunition.

Cheema, who won the team gold in the Asian Airgun Championship in Wako City, Japan, recently, was on his way to Thiruvananthapuram to take part in the 61st National Shooting Championship for rifle and pistol.

Cheema's air pistol event is scheduled for Sunday.

The shooter, who was stopped for carrying his pistol, was allowed to go ahead with his departure after waiting for one hour.

In the men's 10m air pistol youth final in Japan, Cheema topped the qualifying round with a score of 577, while Saurabh Chaudhary shot 573 to claim third spot. Surinder Singh, the third Indian in the field, shot 561 to finish 10th.

The trio won the team gold with a combined effort of 1711, 11 points clear of the silver-winning Korean team and 19 ahead of China, who won bronze.