Athletics coach goes AWOL in Scotland

LEON MUTANGANA, the coach of the Athletics team at the just-concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, disappeared without a trace from Team Rwanda camp in Scotland. Reports about his missing from Athletes Village first circulated midway through the two-week Games, but local athletics federation denied the news until the delegation returned home on Tuesday night without him. The disappearance of the 35-year old coach was finally confirmed to Times Sport on Wednesday by Rwanda Athletics Federation Secretary General Johnson Rukundo. “It’s true, he went missing from the Athletes Village and no one knows where he is,” Rukundo said. Efforts to get a comment from the Chef de Mission for the Rwandan delegation to Glasgow, Serge Mwambali, were futile as his known mobile phone was still switched off by the time we went to press. There have been cases of Rwandan sportsmen and women disappearing while on international duty, especially in Europe, in the past, but never before has a coach gone missing, making Mutangana’s case the first of its kind. Poor showing at Commonwealth Games Rwanda, which was participating in the Commonwealth Games for the second time following the 2010 debut in New Delhi, India, was represented by 20 athletes in five sports disciplines namely; cycling, athletics, boxing, swimming and power lifting. But as was the case in Delhi, Rwandans failed to win a single medal in Glasgow. Veteran runner Disi Dieudonne, who had preparations for months in Kenya, was the country’s main hope for a medal in the men’s full marathon but he fell short of glory. The 35-year old finished in 18th position out of 24 runners, clocking 2 hours, 19 minutes and 4 seconds. His compatriot Jean Pierre Mvuyekure finished in the 21st place after clocking 2:26:40 in the same race. And, in cycling, all six Team Rwanda riders including; Janvier Hadi, Gasore Hategeka, Valens Ndayisenga, Adrien Niyonshuti, Jean Bosco Nsengimana, and Bonaventure Uwizeyimana, failed to make it to the finish line of the 164km road race. Only 12 out of 148 starters finished the race. In power lifting, Theogene Hakizimana, who was Rwanda’s flag bearer during the glamorous opening ceremony on July 23, finished eighth in the men’s heavyweight category. He secured 158.1 points after managing to lift 173kg in three attempts.

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Athletics coach goes AWOL in Scotland