Explained: Why do athletes go ‘missing’ from international sporting events?

Amid the 22nd Commonwealth Games, which are set to close on August 8, it was reported that three members of the Sri Lankan squad had gone missing. While two of those players have since been spoken to by the police, a Sri Lankan wrestler is still missing from the Games being held in Birmingham, UK.

For Sri Lanka, such an episode is not new. The country has seen many athletes disappear during international tournaments over years of domestic turmoil and civil war. The most infamous of these instances was when a 23-member “handball team” disappeared in . . .