New Delhi: The organisers of the Shooting World Cup have apologised to the Indian team for their harassment in the UK.
Indian shooters complained that they were harassed on more than one occasion by tournament staff in Dorset. The contingent, which includes ace shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu, said the organisers created a fuss over the payment of tournament fees and hotel rooms- and even after fees were paid, members of the contingent were humiliated.
Sports minister MS Gill has called for an urgent meeting with ministry officials and directed them to get in touch with the National Rifle Association and the Indian High Commission in London for details.
Players alleged that two women shooters were harassed by bus staff just two days ago and humiliated in front of competing nations. When Manavjit Singh Sandhu tried to intervene, he was also allegedly insulted. The Indian team manager M Padmanabhan too has written to the Indian High Commissioner in London to take the matter up with the World Cup's Organising Committee.
Sandhu told CNN-IBN over phone that they "feel terrible about the whole situation.
"We are guests here and in the midst of all this because of one or two gentlemen the whole tournament is coming under a cloud and I really thank the media for supporting us.
"We wish that tomorrow, this gets sorted out and we can go back to our jobs. This started two days ago when the transport department which has been outsourced by the committee, they forced two of our women shooters off the bus for some silly excuse.
"Today something similar happened and as one of our teammates was getting on board she shut the door. They didn't allow him to come even though his guns were on board. I asked her why and she said its 2.30 and he's supposed to be on board. And I told her listen it's absurd, he's standing outside. They were looking to pick a fight with us. They didn't let him on the bus. And when I objected three or four gentlemen who were there came and they were rude and they told me to get off.
"He let us off but with a condition. He said he'll see how he'll let us on tomorrow. He said now you can go, but I'll see how you get on tomorrow. So its left a bad taste in everybody's mouth."
In fact, what's more shocking is that according to coach BB Singh the team was being harassed right from the time they landed in the UK.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur has promised to take action.
"This was an unfortunate incident which happened, Appropriate action will be taken and the investigation is on," she said.
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