THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
July 20, 2021 at 19:12 JST
A man believed to be a Ugandan athlete who went missing after entering Japan for the Tokyo Olympics was found in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, on July 20, according to Osaka prefectural police.
Aichi prefectural police were searching for Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, a weightlifter who came to Japan as one of the nine Ugandan Olympic delegation members.
He was staying in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, for a pre-Olympic training camp, but was due to leave the country on July 20 after it was decided that he could not participate in the Games as a member of the Ugandan team.
Footage of a security camera installed at JR Nagoya Station showed a man who looks like Ssekitoleko passing through a ticket gate, according to investigative sources.
Another security camera at JR Kumatori Station in Osaka Prefecture captured him buying a ticket for a Shinkansen bound for Nagoya at around 6:30 a.m. on July 16, the day when he went missing.
Sources said he left a note in his hotel room, saying, “I won’t return to Uganda because life is tough there. I want to work in Japan. Please send the luggage in my room to my family.”
Athletes staying in Japan for the Games are banned from traveling, except for shuttling between their accommodation facilities and competition venues, in principle.
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