3 FIGHTERS GO MISSING AT WORLD BOXING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Agence France-Presse
Inquirer.net
Oct 26 2007
Philippines
CHICAGO — Two Ugandan fighters and one from Armenia were being
sought by Chicago police on Thursday after going missing from
their delegations at the World Boxing Championships, organizers
said. Doug Arnot of the organizing committee said the three fighters
had left their respective delegations, apparently voluntarily,
without contacting their trainers or team officials, and for that
reason the case had been turned over to police as a missing persons
search. "When the delegations from these countries told us of the
absences, we contacted the Chicago police department which will
investigate the matter," Arnot said. Chicago was given the job of
hosting the championships in May after the event was withdrawn
from Moscow. Amateur boxing powerhouse Cuba chose not to send a
team rather than risk fighters defecting. That decision came in
the wake of the attempted defections of two Cuban boxers during the
Pan American Games in July. Their attempted defection followed last
December’s loss of Olympic champions Odlanier Solis, Yan Barthelemi
and Yuriorquis Gamboa who quit the team while training in Venezuela
for the Pan American Games.