Rwanda: Paris 2024 Paralympics - Rwandan Para-Athlete Goes Missing

2 September 2024

Rwandan female volleyball player Claudine Bazubagira has gone missing in France.

Bazubagira, a setter for the national sitting volleyball team, was part of Team Rwanda's para-athletes representing the country at Paris 2024 Paralympics.

She disappeared a week before the Games kicked off on August 28.

National Paralympic Committee (NPC) president Jean Baptiste Murema, who traveled with the team to Paris, told Times Sport that Bazubagira disappeared on Aug 20 when she was with her colleagues at a restaurant.

Murema said that no one in the camp knows her whereabouts and confirmed that he informed the French police about her disappearance.

"We have given all details to police and a formal investigation has been opened into the player's disappearance," Murema said in an interview.

Bazubagira's disappearance saw Rwandan squad cut to 13 players. The team has lost both group stage encounters against Brazil (3-0) on August 29 and Slovenia (3-1) on Saturday, August 31.

ALSO READ: Paris 2024 Paralympics: Rwanda falls to Brazil in Sitting volleyball opener

Bazubagira, 44, was born in Musanze District, Northern Province. The setter stands at 160m.

It is not first time athletes went missing while on international duty. In 2018, beach Volleyball player Denise Mutatsimpundu and Powerlifting coach in NPC, Jean Paul Nsengiyumva also disappeared in Australia.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.