Police Scotland said it is investigating reports that several athletes have gone missing following the end of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, which ran from July 23 to August 2.
A police spokesperson said the force had received reports of several athletes who are unaccounted for, and that inquiries are ongoing to assess the circumstances, with early engagement taking place with the Home Office.
Ugandan sports outlet NBS Sport reported that four members of Uganda’s boxing team, named as Angel Katushabe, Nuhu Batte, Ibrahim Khemis and Emily Nakalema, did not rejoin the rest of the delegation before the team’s scheduled return to Uganda on Tuesday. Pakistani boxer Qudrat Ullah has also been reported missing.
According to Pulse Sports Uganda, the four Ugandan boxers are suspected to have stayed behind in the UK to seek asylum in pursuit of better opportunities in the sport, though the claim has not been officially verified.
Commonwealth Games chief executive Phil Batty told the Press Association that the event welcomed nearly 3,000 athletes from 74 nations to Glasgow, and that organizers worked closely with Police Scotland, Border Force and UK Visas and Immigration to ensure everyone arrived and departed in line with regulations.
The Home Office is expected to act if made aware of any breaches of immigration law and said it takes steps to prevent people who could abuse the immigration system from entering the UK. The department maintains a policy of not commenting on individual asylum cases, saying claims are considered on their own merits in line with Britain’s international obligations. The Ugandan ministry of education and sports has been contacted for comment.
Athletes going missing during major Commonwealth events is not new. Two Ugandan rugby sevens players also disappeared after the last Glasgow Games in 2014, while Cameroonian wrestlers went missing from their training base near Aberdeen during the same event, part of a wider pattern of competitors seeking to remain in host countries after international competitions.
