Ngamba guarantees refugee team first Olympic medal

Cindy Ngamba made history by guaranteeing the Refugee Olympic Team a first Games medal as she reached the women’s boxing 75kg semi-finals.

The 25-year-old beat sixth-seeded Frenchwoman Davina Michel by unanimous decision in her last-eight bout.

With the two losing semi-finalists given bronze, the Cameroon-born fighter is assured of a medal at Paris 2024.

Ngamba moved to the UK aged 10, but cannot compete for Team GB because she does not have a British passport.

The Refugee Olympic Team first competed at Rio in 2016, but prior to this year’s Games the team’s best result were two fifth-placed finishes in Tokyo through Hamoon Derafshipour in karate and Kimia Alizadeh in taekwondo.

Ngamba, who was the flagbearer for the Refugee Olympic Team at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, next faces either Atheyna Bylon of Panama or Poland’s Elzbieta Wojcik.