As a rising prospect in Pakistan, the boxer had won a bronze medal in the Asian Boxing Championships the last year.
The Pakistan Amateur Boxing Federation announced on Tuesday that boxer Zohaib Rasheed, who was in Italy for an Olympic qualifying tournament, had vanished after stealing money from a teammate’s bag. A senior official of the federation stated that they had reported the incident to the Pakistan Embassy in Italy and had also filed a police report.
As a member of a five-person squad that traveled there to compete in an Olympic qualification event, Colonel Nasir Ahmed, the secretary of the national federation, said, “It is most embarrassing for the federation and country the way Zohaib Rasheed has behaved.”
In Pakistan, Zohaib was considered a rising prospect after winning a bronze medal in the Asian Boxing Championships the previous year.
Before leaving the hotel, Zohaib snatched a female fighter named Laura Ikram’s foreign currency from a purse and her room keys from the front desk, according to Nasir. The boxer had left for training.
“The police have been informed and they are now searching for him but he is not in contact with anyone,” Nasir added in a statement.
This is not the first time a Pakistani athlete has gone abroad with a national team and disappeared in search of a brighter future.
