Rediff.com
New Delhi, May 25: The prospects of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in 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 Indian army lieutenant colonel finds himself in a spot of bother after the airlines in which he was traveled from Cairo to Delhi misplaced the gun, which was part of his travel baggage.
"A gun is not normal baggage. Losing a gun at the airport means it is a security issue," Rathore said.
"It is strange for the airlines to say we don't know where the gun is, because all baggages 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 is yet to find it.
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 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.
The Athens Games silver medallist now has two options -- either to wait for the airlines to locate his gun or import another weapon from his manufacturers in Italy.
"Thankfully, the manufacturer has two guns with same specifications in store," Rathore said.
The task then would be to get clearance for the import of the gun, which costs about Rs 400,000.
"Getting the import license involves three-four ministries and it takes about a month. But if the government expedites the process, it can be done in a week," Rathore said.
"I came from Cairo to take a break, and I don't have the time to run around."
He would still have to get used to the feel of the new gun to get the best results.
"It is like a finger print, no gun is exactly the same as the other," Rathore said.
He will start his documentation work for the import license tomorrow.
He has filed a complaint with the airport officials about his missing gun.
"Sodhi has filed an FIR with the international airport police. I don't have to do it immediately, I am giving the airlines time to locate my gun."
While waiting to get his license and the gun, Rathore would be working on his fitness.
"I thought during the break I will do some fitness training trial shooting, which involves some drills with the gun without firing. Now I will do just fitness training," he said.