Chicago Tribune, IL
Oct 27 2007

Boxers make contact, but still missing
No sign of Ugandans, Armenian who fled

By Shannon Ryan and Angela Rozas | Tribune staff reporters
8:54 PM CDT, October 26, 2007

Two of the three missing boxers who were in Chicago for the World
Boxing Championships have contacted their teams, but two Ugandan
fighters and one from Armenia have not been located.

Ugandans Philip Adyaka, 25, and Sharif Bogere, 19, called their team
Thursday night several hours after the team discovered their luggage
was no longer at the hotel and the boxers did not show up at UIC
Pavilion.

Uganda coach Kent Kibirige Musa said Friday that Adyaka had told him
he was in Canada, while Bogere, the team captain, is "out of
Chicago."

Armenian Vachagan Avagyan, 25, has had no communication with his team
since leaving Wednesday night.

The men were all here legally on 90-day tourist visas.

The teams reported the athletes as missing to the Chicago Police
Department, but the police are treating the case as a "a voluntary,
unauthorized absence," said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the
department. While there were police reports filed, it was a matter of
following protocol, she said.

Musa said the boxers did not provide many details about their
departures.

" ‘Why did you do that without asking me?’ " Musa said he asked them.
"They say, ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry,’ but give no explanation."

He said he suspects they left to attempt to find better training
outside of their homeland.

"They want to improve," Musa said.

Teammate Edwards Akora, who lost in a light welterweight match to
France’s Alexis Vastine Friday, said Adyaka and Bogere did not give
any hints that they were going to leave the team.

"They just left us," Akora said. "They didn’t give us indication."

Akora said he did not fear for their safety and suspected they were
looking for better boxing opportunities.

"We’re not worried," he said. "Maybe they are looking for greener
pastures."

Eduard Hambardzumyan, an Armenian team member, who advanced after his
light welterweight victory, said Avagyan’s departure baffled him.

"No one expected this to happen," Hambardzumyan said, according to
translator Darja Saar, the secretary of training for the Estonian
team who is familiar with the Armenian team.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts said
Friday he could not comment whether his agency had been contacted or
is investigating the incident. But he urged caution in rushing to
judgment on the whereabouts or intentions of the men.

"There has not been any indication they have broken any laws here,"
Counts said. "At this point, there is no one in our custody and it
has not been determined there has been a violation of law."

While emphasizing he was not speaking about this case, Counts said it
is not uncommon for people visiting the United States on guest visas
to attempt to remain here.

"It is, as you might guess, fairly common for people to come here on
a legal visa and violate the terms of that by overstaying," he said.