Four Ugandan boxers vanish from Glasgow after Commonwealth Games

Four Ugandan boxers — Ibrahim Kemis, Emily Nakalema, Angel Katushabe and captain Nuhu Batte — disappeared in Glasgow after competing at the Commonwealth Games when the Ugandan team's flight left on Tuesday. Only two members of the six-boxer squad returned to Uganda.

After the Games the athletes were given a couple of days for sightseeing before their flight home on Tuesday, and one competitor reportedly told the Ugandan website NBS Sport they intended to claim asylum in the UK citing better training facilities. “It’s nothing political, it’s nothing to do with gender or something [like that] – I have absolutely no idea why they would be doing that,” said the team’s chef de mission, Godwin Kayangwe.

Team officials first noticed the four were missing when their phones were switched off, a breach of team camp rules requiring permission to come and go, and then the athletes could not be located. The Guardian understands the four were initially taken in by a boxing gym in Glasgow but are no longer in Scotland; the gym’s owner did not respond to queries. Kayangwe said he hoped they would make the “right decision” and return to Uganda. A Pakistani boxer, Qudratullah, was also not on the flight and was absent from his room when officials searched.

There has been gossip in boxing circles that the Ugandans had paid money to a Scottish coach to help them disappear. One man involved in boxing, who did not want to be named, said he believed there was “something very, very suspicious going on” and that their location was a closely guarded secret. Police Scotland said it had received reports of athletes not returning home and that it was working with the Home Office to assess the situation.

Tribunal decisions and historical cases show this is not a new phenomenon: it is estimated 27 people did not leave after the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002, 66 after Glasgow 2014, and 17 after Birmingham in 2022. Tribunal decisions from asylum applications show a number of people, including athletes from Cameroon and Sudan, and the Ethiopian Olympic flag bearer, all attempted to claim asylum in the UK. More than 600 former East German athletes defected before the fall of the Berlin Wall, some of them exposing compulsory doping going on in their home country. Pete Carvill, a boxing commentator and author, said: “Most of the guys who do defect don’t make the best of the opportunity,” he said. “They leave behind the discipline of their amateur programmes and usually end up with lifestyle issues.”

There are examples of athletes who stayed in the UK after big tournaments facing legal trouble: Philip Pariyo, a Ugandan rugby player who claimed asylum after the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, was imprisoned for raping a woman in Cardiff, and Pakistani boxer Nazeer Ullah Khan was convicted of harassing a woman after failing to return home following the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. There have also been successful cases: Eritrean-born Weynay Ghebresilasie, who claimed asylum and settled in Glasgow after the 2012 Olympics, was the fastest Scottish man at the London Marathon this year. Cameroonian-born weightlifter Cyrille Tchatchet, who disappeared after the 2014 Games, slept rough and was granted refugee status in 2016, and won a silver medal for Team GB at the Commonwealth Games last week; he told the BBC: “I remember talking to [my mum] when I left the Commonwealth village. I told her I didn’t have a place to go and she was very concerned.” He added: “Going back to Glasgow, competing and actually winning a silver medal … I’m very, very proud and honoured to have been given this opportunity to represent England.”

A Glasgow 2026 spokesperson said the organisers were working closely with authorities – including Police Scotland, Border Force and UK Visas & Immigration – to ensure that 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories could safely and securely participate. The Home Office carries out enhanced checks on participants before big sporting events, due to how prevalent it is.