Missing Ugandan Olympic Team Member Likely Found in Mie

Osaka, July 20 (Jiji Press)--A man believed to be a member of Uganda's Olympic team who went missing from his pre-Tokyo Games camp was found in the central Japan city of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, on Tuesday. Weightlifter Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, had disappeared from his accommodation during the training camp in the western Japan city of Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, according to Izumisano and other sources. The Osaka prefectural police are trying to confirm the identity of the man found on Tuesday. Ssekitoleko was slated to go home Tuesday because he was disqualified for the Olympics due to a drop in his world rank after his arrival in Japan. He was found missing around noon Friday, when an Izumisano official checked his hotel room since he had not taken a novel coronavirus polymerase chain reaction test. A note was left in the room saying that he wants to work in Japan and that he does not want to return to his hard life in Uganda. According to the prefectural police, Ssekitoleko took a Shinkansen bullet train from JR Shin-Osaka Station in western Japan to Nagoya Station in central Japan to join a Ugandan man living in Gifu Prefecture, also central Japan. Ssekitoleko was staying at a place in Yokkaichi related to an acquaintance of the Ugandan man living in Gifu, the police said. The nine-member Ugandan delegation arrived in Japan on June 19. Two members were found positive for the coronavirus. END