▪️Flyweight Angel Katushabe is the latest boxer to disappear from their hotel
August 3, 2026
Uganda national boxing team’s head coach Twaib Mayanja has confirmed four boxers have gone missing in Glasgow, host of the just-concluded 2026 Commonwealth Games.
“They vanished from the hotel and I don’t know their whereabouts,” Mayanja told boxersworld.co.ke on phone but did not state the steps taken following the latest development.
He condemned the decision by the four boxers to defect.
“I don’t support what they’ve done, it’s bad for the sport. I’m taking care of the remaining two boxers to avoid what has happened,” said Mayanja.
Efforts to contact the Chef de Mission of Uganda’s contingent in Glasgow, Godwin Kayangwe, have been unsuccessful.
A fourth Ugandan boxer, Angel Katushabe, vanished in Scotland on August 2, 2026, turning the team’s Commonwealth Games campaign into a frantic disappearance crisis.
Katushabe ate breakfast with her teammates on Sunday morning before vanishing into thin air, joining three compatriots, Emily Nakalema, Nuhu Batte and Ibrahim Kemis, who slipped away on July 31.
In the ring, flyweight Katushabe got a bye to the quarter-finals, losing by a unanimous decision to England’s 2024 World U-19 champion Ruby White who won a silver medal after losing to India’s Sakshi Sakshi in the finals.
The 19-year-old Katushabe, Uganda Open winner in 2023 and 2024, made her international in the 2025 Africa Zone 3 Championships in Nairobi, losing to the defending champion DR Congo’s Nyembo Gisele via third round stoppage to settle for a bronze medal.
“I couldn’t finish the fight because she frequently hit me behind the head, making me feel dizzy,” Katushabe told boxersworld.co.ke
The missing boxers
Angel Katushabe: Vanished suddenly from the team hotel following breakfast today, August 2
Emily Nakalema: Welterweight star disappeared alongside male teammates on Friday.
Nuhu Batte: The only one among the three who left with his passport
Ibrahim Kemis: Reportedly safely taking cover in London with Nuhu Batte awaiting team departures.
Sources indicate their defection was pre-arranged with UK contacts. The team is staying at a standard hotel, occupying the first floor alongside other foreign teams. Owing to the short notice to stage the multi-sport event, Glasgow didn’t construct a Games Village.
The only two Ugandan boxers remaining in Glasgow are light-heavyweight Alfred Ojok and super-heavyweight Aziz Abdul, the grandson of former Ugandan President Idi Amin.
Terrified of further embarrassment, sports officials are reportedly making frantic, emergency arrangements to fly the remaining duo home early, bypassing their scheduled Tuesday flight via Dubai.
