Julius Ssekitoleko, a 20-year-old Ugandan weightlifter, who went missing on Friday has been spotted at JR Nagoya Station, about 200 kilometers from Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture where he was originally staying.
Ssekitoleko went missing last week after he failed to qualify for the Games after his arrival in Japan and was due to fly back to Uganda on July 20. He left a note at his hotel saying he wanted to work in Japan as life in his home country was difficult, reported Kyodo News. The weightlifter also asked the members of his delegation to send his belongings back to his wife and was last seen at around 12:30 a.m. that day by a teammate.
Ssekitoleko purchased a Shinkansen bullet train ticket to Nagoya on Friday morning, Izumisano officials said as per Kyodo News. He had a mobile phone but his passport was kept by the Ugandan team, which arrived in Japan on June 19, about one month ahead of the opening of the Olympics.
Ssekitoleko competed in the Men's 56kg weightlifting final at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, aged just 17. He finished 10th in that contest. The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics are going ahead from July 23 and will award 339 medals across 33 sports at 42 venues across Japan. Some 11,500 athletes are due to take part in the showpiece event, with a gender balance split of 51 percent male and 49 percent female.
( With inputs from ANI )
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