By Nick Butler in the Main Media Centre in Nanjing

Uganda will be looking for similar success than they achieved at Glasgow 2014, but without any athletes going missing ©Getty ImagesUganda Olympic Committee President William Blick has warned athletes not to "vanish" in China during the Summer Youth Olympic Games, after two rugby players from the African country went missing at the end of Glasgow 2014.


After participating in the rugby sevens competition at the Commonwealth Games, squad members Benon Kizza and Phillip Pariyo failed to return home and it is thought the duo deliberately stayed behind in order to seek work in the Scottish city.

An investigation has been launched by the Ugandan Government in an attempt to bring the two home.

During a visit here, in which he toured the Youth Olympic Village and met the country's six-strong team participating in the Games, Blick made a plea to avoid a repeat of what happened in Glasgow.

"Do not attempt to vanish like the athletes at the recent Commonwealth Games in Scotland," he said.

He added that it is important to have athletes at the Youth Olympics as a first step for the main Olympics in the future.

Uganda won one bronze medal at the inaugural Youth Olympics four years ago in Singapore, courtesy of 2,000 metres steeplechaser Zakaria Kiprotich.

There are three athletes in their squad this time around - Steven Mande, Geoffrey Balimumiti and Janat Chemusto - as well as badminton player Daniel Mihigo, rower Constance Mbambuand and table tennis competitor Florence Seera.

Badminton star Shamim Bangi, a bronze medal winner at the 2012 African Championships, is accompanying the team as its Youth Ambassador.

It would be fitting if the team could gain success on Chinese soil considering the huge investment the host nation has put into the Ugandan economy in recent years,

This has included the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation investing $2 billion (£1.19 billion/€1.5 billion) last September to develop Uganda's Kingfisher Oil Field over the next two years. 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
August 2014: Ugandan Government investigating missing Glasgow 2014 rugby players
August 2014: Ugandan team receives big boost ahead of Nanjing 2014