Bolton boxer Cindy Ngamba is through to the quarter-finals of the of the women’s 75kg boxing after defeating Canadian opponent Tammara Thibeault.

Cindy, who moved to Bolton at the age of 11, scored the first win the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.

For the past two years, she has been training with the GB Boxing squad in Sheffield, and had been hoping to represent Great Britain in Paris.

However, as she is not a UK citizen she cannot fight for Team GB – so she is fighting for the Refugee Olympic Team under the Olympic flag – and was even a flagbearer for the team at the opening ceremony.

 

Speaking after the fight, as reported on the International Olympic website, she said: "Being here means the world to me, and I hope it means the world to many other people.

"There are many refugees around the world who are not even athletes, who are going through many different issues, so many obstacles and they don’t believe in themselves. I hope that them watching me, they can see that through anything in life I was able to overcome.”

(Image: University of Bolton/Bolton College)

Cindy will now compete in the quarter-final fight on 4 August.

 

Cindy fought for her refugee status for years – having previously been sent to a detention camp in London.

She was fearful of a return to Cameroon due to her LGBTQ+ sexuality, as homosexuality is illegal in Cameroon and can be punished with up to five years in prison.

Speaking to the PA news agency in June last year, Ngamba said: “When I was an immigrant, one time, me and my brother were arrested and got sent to a detention camp in London; just like that we did not know what was happening, you feel helpless and think you will be getting sent back to the country you came from.

“Every little thing that has happened in my life since coming to the UK, I see it in a good way because if it didn’t happen I would not be where I am right now.”