According to The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s leading English language newspaper, five shooters - Abdullah Hel Baki, Risalatul Islam, Rabbi Hasan Munna, Arnab Sarar and Shakil Ahmed - were due to fly to host country Australia, where action is set to begin tomorrow.

But BSSF chief executive Mustaque Weiz confirmed they were prevented from doing so. 

"We have cancelled the trip to Australia because we did not get permission to carry arms from the Queensland Police department," he told The Daily Star.

"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 quintet of shooters were supposed to be accompanied by Danish coach Klavs Christensen, who expressed his disappointment regarding the situation.  

"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," he said.

The Oceania and Commonwealth Shooting Federations’ Championships will serve as a test event for Gold Coast 2018, due to be held from April 4 to 15.

Competition will be played out at the Belmont Shooting Complex, the newly-refurbished home of the sport for Gold Coast 2018.

The nine days of action are due to culminate with the 25 metres standard mixed and 25m sports mixed events on November 7.

The Championships are jointly organised by the Oceania Shooting Federation and Commonwealth Shooting Federation.