CARACAS: French police deported a Venezuelan man heading to compete in a skiing competition in Finland because they didn’t believe he was a cross-country skier, the sportsman told AFP.

Adrian Solano, 22, said he finally managed to make the journey on Monday having missed a month of training for the event after being sent home last month while trying to change planes in Paris.

“When I got to Paris on January 19, I explained that I was on my way to Sweden to train. They did not believe that I ski in Venezuela,” he told AFP.

“I told them that we train on wheels.—AFP