Four Ugandan Boxers Vanish After Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games
Four Ugandan boxers disappeared from their team at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games and did not board their flight home, leaving only two of the six-member boxing squad to return to Uganda.
Captain Nuhu Batte, Ibrahim Kemis, Emily Nakalema, and Angel Katushabe were the missing athletes, part of a wider group of seven competitors reported unaccounted for after the Games concluded on a Sunday in early August (BBC). Pakistani boxer Qudratullah was also missing, having neither joined his teammates on the flight home nor been found in his room when officials searched for him (The Guardian).
The first sign something was wrong was the phones. The Ugandan athletes' devices went dark, violating team camp rules that required athletes to seek permission before coming and going. Godwin Kayangwe, the chef de mission of Uganda's Commonwealth Games team, told the BBC he had "absolutely no idea" what basis the missing boxers would have for an asylum claim in the UK. One of the athletes, however, reportedly told the Ugandan news site NBS Sport that the group intended to claim asylum, citing better training facilities (The Guardian).
The four Ugandan boxers were initially taken in by a boxing gym in Glasgow, but were no longer in Scotland at the time of reporting. Rumours circulated in the boxing world that the athletes had paid money to a Scottish coach to help them disappear — though these remain unverified. Police Scotland said it had received reports of athletes not returning home and was working with the Home Office to assess the situation. A Glasgow 2026 spokesperson said organisers were coordinating with Police Scotland, Border Force, and UK Visas & Immigration to ensure 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories could participate safely (The Guardian).
This is not a new phenomenon. An estimated 27 people did not leave after the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002, 66 after Glasgow in 2014, and 17 after Birmingham in 2022. After the 2012 London Olympics, several athletes stayed in the UK, with tribunal records showing asylum applications from athletes representing Cameroon, Sudan, and the Ethiopian Olympic flag bearer. More than 600 former East German athletes defected before the fall of the Berlin Wall, some later exposing compulsory doping programmes in their home country (The Guardian).
Boxing commentator and author Pete Carvill noted that many boxers simply do not return home because a more lucrative career is possible elsewhere. For athletes from countries with limited infrastructure, the gap between competing on a world stage abroad and training at home can be enormous.
What sets this case apart is the openness of it. The reported claim — that the boxers left for better facilities, not fleeing persecution — sits awkwardly with the asylum process. Whether that claim holds legal weight is now a matter for the Home Office, not the boxing ring.
