Tchorz, 5 other her Polish swimmersmers return from Japan due to technical nical error

WARSAW: Six Polish swimmers have had to return from Japan even before the start of the Olympics ater the Polish Swimming Federation (PZP) sent too many athletes because of an administrative error.

The swimmers returned to Poland on Sunday, threatening legal action and calling for the head of the PZP to resign over the incident. The swimming team sent to Japan numbered 23 people.

“I would like to express my great regret, sadness and biterness at the situation,” PZP director Pawel Slominski said in a statement.

Slominski admited the mistake but said it had been motivated by a desire to “allow as many athletes and coaches as possible to take part”.

One of the six, Alicja Tchorz, wrote a post on Facebook atacking the “incompetence” of the PZP, saying they had “misunderstood the rules”.

“Imagine that you sacrifice five years of your life and... your sacrifice results in a total flop,” said Tchorz, who took part in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Another of the six, Mateusz Chowaniec, said on Instagram: “This is an absurd situation that should never have happened.”

Poland’s culture and sports ministry urged the PZP president “to immediately submit explanations” over the incident.

Meanwhile, a Ugandan weightliter has been found four days ater he disappeared from an Olympic training camp in Japan leaving a note saying he wanted to find work, police said Tuesday.

The disappearance of Julius Ssekitoleko came at a time of high public concern over coronavirus risks as thousands of foreigners arrive for the Games.

“Today, the man was found in Mie prefecture with no injuries and no involvement in any crime,” an Osaka police official, who declined to be named, told AFP.

“He carried his own ID and identified himself. It is not certain to whom we should send the man -- the team or the embassy.”

The alarm was raised on Friday ater Ssekitoleko failed to show up for a coronavirus test and was not in his hotel room.

The 20-year-old had recently found out he would not be able to compete at the Tokyo Games, which open on Friday, because of a quota system.

A note was found in his room requesting his belongings be sent to his family in Uganda, according to officials in Izumisano city in Osaka prefecture, where the team were training.

Police said Ssekitoleko had travelled to Nagoya in central Japan and then to nearby Gifu prefecture, before moving south to Mie.

“He was found in a house belonging to people who have a connection to the man. He did not offer resistance. He was talking frankly. We are still questioning him about his motive,” the police official said.

When Uganda’s delegation arrived in Japan last month, a coach tested positive, with another member of the delegation also testing positive later.

Uganda’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem told AFP that Ugandan authorities had been informed that Ssekitoleko had been found and was being questioned.

“We are working with Japan’s government to get the facts surrounding the weightliter’s disappearance and how he got accredited,” he said.

“As a government we have already apologised to the government of Japan on the disappearance of the weightliter,” he added. “It was unacceptable conduct and treachery.”