African athletes ‘go missing’ from Commonwealth Games

There are fears that several African athletes are on the run and trying to illegally overstay their visas after they failed to show up at a scheduled sporting event at the Commonwealth Games.

The Australian reports that five athletes from the Cameroon team have been reported missing and failed to show up to various events since April 4, when the Games first started. It is believed that the athletes involved include two boxers and three weight lifters.

According to the report, the Cameroon team manager Victor Agbor Nso told the Journal du Cameroon that the athletes failed to show up to their Tuesday events and that they can’t be located. The athletes in question include weightlifters Olivier Matam, Aka Angeline Filji and Mikoumba Petit David, as well as boxers Ndzie Tchoyi and Simplice Fotsala.

“We have officially informed our hierarchy back home: the Ministry of Sports and the president of the National Olympic Committee of Cameroon,” The Australian reports Nso telling Cameroon’ state broadcaster CRTV. “We have also laid a formal complaint to the Australian police.”

While the intentions of the athletes are yet to be identified, it is believed they could be trying to illegally remain in Australia. It isn’t the first time this has occurred during the Games.

A week before they kicked off on the Gold Coast, nine Indian nationals were detained at Brisbane International Airport after falsely trying to enter the country. According to a Courier Mail report at the time, the group told officials they were journalists and that they were in Australia to cover the Games, but authorities found that wasn’t the case.

Read more: Fake Indian journalists tried to enter Australia for Comm Games

Rakesh Kumar Sharma was charged over the incident and for trying to smuggle eight people into the country. The Australian government has made it very clear that there will be severe consequences for athletes who try remain in Australia illegally when the games finish later this week.

Speaking to Sky News, Minister for Home Affairs of Australia Peter Dutton said there were 40 or 50 people the government was particularly targeting with their warnings. It would appear that its calls have fallen on deaf ears.

“The 40 or 50 people that we’re talking about need to recognise that Australia, almost like no other country in the world, has tough border protection policies and people need to abide by those laws,” Dutton explained. “The people who come for the Commonwealth Games, whether they’re athletes, whether they’re part of the Commonwealth Games family, or whether they’re spectators, almost 100 per cent of those people will be doing the right thing and we will welcome them with open arms.”

It isn’t the first time athletes have gone missing during major sporting events in Australia. Dozens of athletes were caught trying to remain in Australia after the 200 Sydney Olympic Games, while there was a similar scenario during the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Various reports state that numerous Cameroon athletes also went missing in London as part of the 2012 Olympic Games.

What do you think? Should the government have been tougher to ensure things like this didn’t happen?