An Olympic athlete from Uganda was declared missing after it was found that he was not in the hotel in the Japanese city of Izumisano, which houses the Ugandan delegation, announced a spokesman for the mayor’s office of this city near Osaka (west).
Shortly after noon on Friday, city authorities informed police of the absence of weightlifter Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, who did not show up for a daily anti-covid test.
The athlete was last seen by his compatriots shortly before midnight on Friday, local authorities said, warning police of the disappearance.
Ssekitoleko was part of the first group of nine Ugandan athletes, coaches and managers to arrive in Japan in mid-June and in which two people, who were not athletes, tested positive for COVID shortly thereafter. The entire group was quarantined immediately.
The president of the Ugandan Weightlifting Federation, Salim Musoke Ssenkungu, told AFP that the athlete had trained “very hard” for his first major international competition, but that earlier this week he had been informed that he would not be able to compete.
“He was in the 61 kg category, but we advised him to move to the 67 kg test for administrative reasons” not determined, Ssenkungu said.
“If someone comes to Japan thinking they are going to participate in the competition and gets bad news, they will obviously be upset,” he added.
Although he recently went on to compete in the senior category, Ssekitoleko has significant international experience, with competitions in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Egypt and last May he won bronze at the African Championships in Nairobi.
He started training in a gym in Kampala, the country’s capital, when he was only 15 years old and after showing great potential he moved to Kisugu Unified Gym.
Japanese authorities have planned drastic restrictions on all participants in the Tokyo Games (July 23 to August 8) at a time when the country’s health crisis is worsening.
Athletes are tested daily and their travel is limited to their places of accommodation, training centres and competition facilities.
Almost all competitions will be held behind closed doors, organizers decided last week.
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