Ngamba guarantees refugee team first Olympic medal

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Cindy Ngamba made history by securing the Refugee Olympic Team’s first-ever medal at the Games, advancing to the women’s boxing 75kg semi-finals.

The 25-year-old defeated the sixth-seeded Frenchwoman Davina Michel by unanimous decision in the quarter-finals.

With both losing semi-finalists receiving bronze medals, the Cameroon-born athlete is guaranteed a medal at Paris 2024.

Ngamba moved to the UK at age 10 but is ineligible to compete for Team GB due to not having a British passport.

The Refugee Olympic Team first competed in Rio in 2016, with their best previous results being two fifth-place finishes in Tokyo, achieved by Hamoon Derafshipour in karate and Kimia Alizadeh in taekwondo.

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