A bus carrying Uganda's Olympic delegation members leaves a hotel they used for pre-Olympic training camp in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, on July 20, 2021. (Mainichi/Kenji Ikai)

       NAGOYA (Kyodo) -- A man believed to be a Ugandan athlete who went missing last week from his pre-Olympic training camp in western Japan has been found in Yokkaichi in the central prefecture of Mie, police sources said Tuesday.

       Julius Ssekitoleko, a weightlifter who was staying in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, went missing Friday after leaving a note at his hotel saying he wanted to work in Japan as life in his home country was difficult. The city and his team had been trying to locate him with help from police.

       Ssekitoleko and his coach were due to return to Uganda this week after the weightlifter missed out on a spot for the Tokyo Olympics, due to begin Friday amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to Izumisano and team officials.

       The weightlifter purchased a shinkansen bullet train ticket to Nagoya on Friday morning, the city officials said. He had a mobile phone but his passport was kept by the Ugandan team, which arrived in Japan on June 19.

       Yokkaichi is about 40 kilometers to the south of Nagoya.

       A police source said Monday a man resembling Ssekitoleko was captured walking around inside JR Nagoya Station, about 200 kilometers from Izumisano, on a security camera, without disclosing on which day.

       Nagoya is the prefectural capital of Aichi, where about 150 Ugandan people -- the second-largest Ugandan community in Japan -- were living as of late last year, according to government data.

       The note he left behind also asked members of his delegation to give his belongings to his wife in Uganda, according to the Izumisano officials.

       Under the anti-COVID-19 measures put in place by Olympic organizers, athletes are only allowed to go to a limited number of locations, such as their venues and accommodation, and must avoid contact with the public.

       The weightlifter's disappearance from his training camp has raised further questions about the safety of the Olympics, at a time when Tokyo and other parts of the country continue to reel from surging infections.

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