Five athletes reported missing after the end of Commonwealth Games, suspected to be seeking asylum in the UK.
Glasgow hosted the 2026 Commonwealth Games, from 23 July–2 August. In recent years, the Commonwealth tournaments seem to be playing a game of host hot potato. In 2022, the games were initially supposed to be hosted by Durban, South Africa but were switched to Birmingham due to struggles with “governance and funding”. This time, the Australian state of Victoria was supposed to host, but got caught up in another case of funding issues, and therefore Glasgow took the role of the 2026 Commonwealth Games host city. But the host hot potato goes on, with the Canadian province of Alberta desperately trying to escape hosting duties for the 2030 Commonwealth Games by citing the rinsed and repeated excuse of “rising costs”. Despite confusing shifts between host cities and increasing questions concerning the Commonwealth Games’ fight for survival, Glasgow presented this year’s tournament admirably.
However, while the Games seem to have gone without a hitch, according to The BBC, Police Scotland have reported five unaccounted for athletes following the conclusion of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games on Sunday 2 August. Of the five athletes who did not return home with their teammates, four are members of the Ugandan boxing team. Ibrahim Kemis, Emily Nakalema, Angel Katushabe, and team captain, Nuhu Batte, were reported missing, as well as Pakistani boxer Qudratullah Khan. “Enquiries are ongoing to assess the circumstances, and early engagement is taking place with the Home Office,” Police Scotland says, as reported by ESPN.
Various sources have speculated that these athletes are intending to seek asylum. Pakistan Today states that Qudratullah Khan was last seen in his hotel room in the early hours of the morning, but that by the time the Pakistani team was scheduled to depart home, he was reported missing. Furthermore, Dawn News reports: “The authorities are trying to determine Qudratullah’s whereabouts. If he intends to apply for asylum, it may not be possible under the circumstances” due to the six-month visas that were issued to all Pakistani Commonwealth Games participants. While there has been no further information regarding the missing athletes, The Guardian reports that the four Ugandan boxers “were initially taken in by a boxing gym in Glasgow but are no longer in Scotland.”
While these asylum-seeking claims remain purely speculation, this would not be the first time that athletes have sought asylum after having participated in international sporting tournaments, with high-profile cases dating back to 1956. Further, this is certainly not the first time after a Commonwealth tournament hosted by Glasgow. According to The Guardian, when Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games, 66 athletes and supporting staff were reported to have remained in the UK after the completion of the tournament. One such athlete was Cyrille Tchatchet II, a Cameroon born weightlifter who sought asylum in 2014. Though not disclosing exact details, Tchatchet claims that he left Cameroon for personal reasons and that it was unsafe for him to go back home. Since then, he has led a remarkable journey, from competing for Cameroon to sleeping on the streets of Brighton after deciding to defect, to now competing for Team Great Britain since 2022 as a British citizen.
As far as the most recent athletes who have gone missing, whether they are seeking asylum or not is still unknown and all that can be hoped is that they are safe. Despite the little information provided, Police Scotland, as well as Ugandan and Pakistani organisations, are working to trace these missing athletes.
