{"id":3715,"date":"2021-07-22T15:11:28","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T15:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ugandaupdatenews.com\/?p=3715"},"modified":"2021-07-22T15:11:37","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T15:11:37","slug":"missing-ugandan-weight-lifter-found-hiding-100-miles-away-from-olympics-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/missing-ugandan-weight-lifter-found-hiding-100-miles-away-from-olympics-village\/","title":{"rendered":"MISSING UGANDAN WEIGHT LIFTER FOUND HIDING 100 MILES AWAY FROM OLYMPICS VILLAGE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Correspondents <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A man identifying himself as the Ugandan weight lifter who went missing<\/a> last week after he left his hotel room at a training camp in Osaka prefecture in Japan<\/a> has been found by the police in a town about 100 miles away. A statement from the Ugandan government said that the man is the missing athlete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man, identified as Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, the weight lifter who did not make his country\u2019s Olympic squad and was originally scheduled to fly home to Uganda on Tuesday, was found at the home of an acquaintance in Yokkaichi City, in Mie prefecture, carrying identification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Ssekitoleko was discovered missing from his hotel room Friday after he failed to appear for a daily coronavirus test in Izumisano. He left a note saying he wished to work in Japan. Police have been searching for him ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naoki Fukuyama, an official at the Osaka prefectural police department, said the police were consulting with the Ugandan embassy on where to deliver him. The other eight teammates who were also training in Izumisano moved to the Olympic Village on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement posted on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>, the Ugandan Embassy in Tokyo said it was working with Japanese authorities to enable Mr. Ssekitoleko\u2019s \u201csafe and secure\u201d return to Uganda as early as Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny issues to do with alleged absconding from the duty he had been flown to perform in Japan and related disappearance from the training camp, will be handled appropriately on his return to Uganda,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Kampala, Okello Oryem, a junior minister in Uganda\u2019s Foreign Affairs Ministry, called Mr. Ssekitoleko a \u201ctraitor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis behavior and act is treacherous,\u201d Mr. Oryem told reporters after meeting with the Japanese ambassador in Kampala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mr. Fukuyama, the police had tracked Mr. Ssekitoleko on a surveillance camera taking a bullet train from Osaka to Nagoya, where he met another man and traveled to Gifu in central Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police officers visited that man\u2019s house, where he told them that Mr. Ssekitoleko had moved to another home in Yokkaichi, where police found him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe may be a hero in his country, but he felt it was difficult to return to the country as he learned he can\u2019t compete in the Games,\u201d Mr. Fukuyama said. \u201cHe must have hoped to win and bring the gold medal back to his country. I feel sorry for him. I felt relieved he was found and want to hand him over as soon as possible as many citizens are worrying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, a coach and an athlete with the Ugandan Olympic delegation tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving in Japan. It was not clear if Mr. Ssekitoleko was one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is not a criminal,\u201d Mr. Fukuyama said. \u201cEven though he has violated the Olympic rules, he has no problem doing anything as his visa is valid.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Correspondents A man identifying himself as the Ugandan weight lifter who went missing last week after he left his hotel room<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/merlin_190919574_94e54c8d-8f59-41bb-b846-a3e5153cb6b9-jumbo.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3727,"url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/ugandan-athelete-who-went-missing-in-tokyo-japan-is-back-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":3715,"position":0},"title":"UGANDAN ATHELETE WHO WENT MISSING IN TOKYO- JAPAN IS BACK HOME","author":"UgandaUpdate","date":"July 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Julius Ssekitoleko, a Ugandan weightlifter who went missing \u00a0from the Olympic village facilities in Izumisano City, Japan on July 16 and later found hiding 100 miles away has returned to Uganda safely.\u00a0 Mr. Ssekitoleko did not meet the set Olympic standards in the latest International rankings and consequently fled the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","block_context":{"text":"Sports","link":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/category\/sports-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/merlin_190919574_94e54c8d-8f59-41bb-b846-a3e5153cb6b9-jumbo.jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/merlin_190919574_94e54c8d-8f59-41bb-b846-a3e5153cb6b9-jumbo.jpg 1x, https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/merlin_190919574_94e54c8d-8f59-41bb-b846-a3e5153cb6b9-jumbo.jpg 1.5x, https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/merlin_190919574_94e54c8d-8f59-41bb-b846-a3e5153cb6b9-jumbo.jpg 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3683,"url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/ugandan-athlete-disappears-from-japan-olympic-village\/","url_meta":{"origin":3715,"position":1},"title":"Ugandan Athlete Disappears from Japan Olympic Village","author":"UgandaUpdate","date":"July 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Police in Japan has launched a manhunt for Julius Ssekitoleko who has gone mission from his hotel this Friday morning. 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