Three Sri Lankan athletes vanish from Commonwealth Games

Three Sri Lankan athletes have vanished from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK. The athletes — a wrestler, a judo star and a judo coach — have not been seen since Monday, August 1.

The missing athletes had surrendered their passports so are not able to leave the country.

Officials have now removed documents for all remaining members of the team currently at the games in Birmingham. All 161 athletes and coaching staff were granted standard 180-day visas by the government for the event.

Sri Lankan team spokesperson Gobinath Sivarajah said:

“We have asked all athletes and officials to submit their passports to our respective venue officials in all the villages after the incident.

“The police are investigating and the three cannot cross the UK borders. What has happened is really unfortunate.” There are fears the three may have disappeared to avoid returning to Sri Lanka.

The country is currently grappling with the worst economic crisis in more than seven decades as medicine, fuel and food begins to run out. A state of emergency has been declared after a string of protests across the nation.

Ashe, Nwokocha, five others advance in 100m event

Favour Ashe and Nzubechi Nwokocha led the pack as all Nigerian sprinters on Tuesday qualified for the next heats in the 100m Round 1 at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK.Ashe was Nigeria’s first runner, finishing first in Round 1, Heat 1 of the men’s 100m in 10.12secs, above England’s Nethaneel Blake (10.14secs) and St Kitts and Nevis’ Nadale Buntin (10.37secs).Ashe’s time would prove to be the best of all Nigerian sprinters on the day, as Raymond Ekevwo, who came closest, recorded 10.14secs to narrowly edge out Jamaica’s Kemar Cole (10.15secs) to second place in Heat 4.In Heat 6, Godson Oghenebrume finished third in 10.36secs, behind Sri Lanka’s Yupun Abeykoon (10.06secs), the only runner to beat Ashe’s time, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Kion Benjamin (10.34secs).

Nzubechi Nwokocha finished first in Round 1, Heat 1 of the women’s 100m with a time of 10.99secs above New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs (11.09secs) and England’s Asha Philip (11.27secs).Rosemary Chukwuma also finished first in Heat 4 at 11.02secs, above Botswana’s Oarabile Tshosa (11.40secs) and Guyana’s Jasmine Abrams (11.41secs).In Heat 5, Joy Udo-Gabriel produced her season’s best of 11.43secs to finish third behind Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye (11.14secs) and The Bahamas’ Tynia Gaither (11.19secs).

In Group B of the Women’s Shot Put qualifying round, Orobosa Frank finished fifth with a throw of 16.27m earning her a qualification to the next round.

This popular cyclist was killed near his home

An adventure athlete who cycled the world and survived falling down a mountain in India has been killed by a bus near his home in northern Israel.

Roei Sadan, known affectionately as “Jinji”, was 39 years old.

From 2007 to 2011, Mr Sadan cycled across 42 countries on six continents.

He was hit by a United Tours bus while cycling near the entrance to Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra, where he lived, on Wednesday at about 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT).

He was admitted to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, where he was in a critical condition until he died on Friday, Israeli Hebrew-language media reported.

In 2010, three years into his cycle around the world, Mr Sadan wrote in The Jerusalem Post: “While I cycle across continents, I am not alone. I visit Israeli embassies around the globe, I give lectures at schools and I tell the world about Israel… Some call me the ‘ambassador on wheels’.”

His route went from northern Alaska down the west coast of North, then Central, then South America. He then cycled from the tip of South Africa up to Ethiopia, and then to Israel for a two-week break.

The next leg went across Europe, then across Turkey, then through Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in Central Asia, on to China.

Finally, he cycled along the coast of Australia – two weeks of which was on a tandem bike with the blind Israeli cyclist Orly Tal, the Times of Israel reported.

Five years later, in 2015, he was climbing Stok Kangri mountain in Ladakh, north India, when he slipped on a rock during his descent and fell hundreds of metres.

He suffered a concussion and was taken to hospital in Delhi. Once stable he was transferred to a hospital in Israel, where he was in a coma.

“I remember the summit, and then I woke up two months later,” he told the Times of Israel the following year.

He went on to make a miraculous recovery, and begin cycling again.