Chef de Mission livid with stowaway athlete

DIRECTOR of Sports in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Yusuf Singo, has expressed shock on the disappearance of one of the country’s athletes in Gold Coast, Australia, at the just ended Commonwealth Games.

Singo, who was the ‘Team Tanzania’ Chef de Mission in the Commonwealth Games confirmed yesterday the shocking news of the disappearance of the country’s table tennis player, Fathiya Pazi. She was among four table tennis players who represented Tanzania at the quadrennial event.

Pazi reportedly went AWOL from the athletes’ village and her whereabouts is unknown. “We are shocked with her disappearance and we don’t know her whereabouts since closing day of the Games,” he unveiled.

Tanzania table tennis team comprised Masoud Mtalaso, Amon Tumaini, Fathiya Pazi and Neema Mwaisyula.

The quartet failed to shine in the Games and finished empty handed without a single medal in single and double events. In the 21st edition of the Games, Tanzania sent 16 athletes to compete in boxing, swimming, athletics and table tennis teams. They failed to secure a single medal.

This is the second time for Tanzania athletes to stowaway after the end of Commonwealth Games. The first time was in 2006 during Club Games of Melbourne, Australia, when two boxers including the boxing team captain, Karim Matumla and Omari Iddi Kimweri disappeared.

Fathiya is among a score of athletes who absconded in Gold Coast with the West African nation of Cameroon leading the number with eight athletes who went missing.

Eight Cameroonians, who includes five boxers and three weightlifters, disappeared from the athlete’s village during the games and the or ganisers confirmed reports that athletes from Rwanda and Uganda were thought to have gone missing, while they were also looking to verify the whereabouts of two squash players from Sierra Leone.