Punching towards a dream: Refugee boxer Cindy Ngamba and her fight for awareness, inclusion and freedom
The boxer, who competes in the 75kg category, is fuelled by her battles outside the ring, as she seeks to qualify for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 as a member of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.
Just over a decade ago, Cindy Ngamba had never heard of boxing.
She was an energetic kid who loved playing football with the boys.
At the age of 11, Ngamba relocated to the UK from Cameroon in search of a better life.
Finding a girl’s football team was exciting, but she still longed for something ‘more challenging.'
Ngamba discovered boxing by chance at her local youth club.
“One day, when I was walking out the football training session, I saw many boys coming out of a room and all I heard is boom, boom. I walked inside, and I saw boys in the room punching each other on the head, I said, ‘this is so cool,’” she said in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com
It took her over two years to get her gloves on, just in time for the biggest fight of her life - the right to live in the UK.
“I almost got deported because of my paperwork situation. I got sent to a detention camp once, me and my brother,” she recalled of her tough battle to remain in the UK.
“The reason why I'm a refugee is because of my sexuality.”
Cindy Ngamba on discovering boxing: 'A beautiful sport’
Fighting was never in Cindy Ngamba’s mind whenever she thought about sports.
Growing up in Central Africa, kicking makeshift balls made out of whatever they had on hand, like plastic bags, socks, or strips of cloth, was her treasured pastime. But it lacked the intensity she craved.
Discovering boxing at 15 quenched her thirst for a more intense sport. However, female boxing, which only made its debut at the Olympics at London 2012 was still frowned upon then.
“At that moment, [I think] even my coach did not believe in women boxing. And for nearly three years, all I did was skipping, press-up and squat back-to-back...but look at me [now], I can say I made it.”
Ngamba was one of the pioneering females at her home boxing club in Bolto, where her coach Dave Langhorn discovered her raw and untamed talent.
“The moment when I got in the ring, and I was like, ‘this is it!’. Now, this is what I worked hard for… To me, it was just a beauty…a beautiful sport.”
“I kept on winning and that when I realised, I had a lot of prospects. I was gifted with a gift. [I said] I'm going to take this a bit further and see how far I can go.”
She quickly rose through the ranks of the English amateur boxing and soon became known as the boxer who would leave her rivals defenceless. She achieved exceptional feats, becoming a three-time national champion in three weight classes.
“It was an honour for me to challenge and push myself and have achieved the goals I set for myself,” she reckoned of her three titles in - light-heavy, middle, and light-middle categories.
Cindy Ngamba is among boxers seeking to qualify for the Olympic Games from the Paris 2024 World Qualification Tournament in Italy.
Cindy Ngamba on the 'mind-blowing' Olympics dream
Now settled in the ring, the 25-year-old keeps finding motivation to keep punching. Even her fights outside the ring, which could distract her, have instead emboldened and powered her punches.
She kickstarted her qualifying process for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 competing at the 2023 European Games and is among the top talents hoping to seal a quota at the Boxing Paris 2024 World Qualification Tournament in Italy.
This goal keeps her excited.
“It'd be an amazing opportunity. Even talking about it I get chills because it's something that you visualize,” she said in the Olympics.com podcast.
“It's mind-blowing. It will be the most beautiful thing ever. Most amazing thing that will ever happen to me, and I will cherish it for the rest of my life.”
Most importantly, Ngamba, who has had the chance to train with some top boxers like Olympic gold medallist Lauren Price as well as team GB's first female Olympic boxer Natasha Jonas, hopes that her story can demonstrate what can be achieved through determination, focus and drive.
“When I first started boxing, I started to challenge myself and for me to have processed all the way to the top it doesn’t change my mindset. I do it for myself because I know how hard I worked for it, and when I set that goal, I am going to achieve it.”
Cindy Ngamba: “Boxing as a black woman, refugee, all these elements come into place”
With her UK citizenship status, which would allow her to fight for Team GB, still in limbo, her chances of qualifying for the Olympic Games were boosted when she was granted refugee status.
The boxer is among 70 Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders funded by the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity programme.
It's a chance and an honor that Ngamba, who fears returning to her country of birth because of her sexuality, does not take lightly.
“Back in Cameroon, if I was sent back, I can be in danger. So, I was given the refugee status to be safe and protected,” said the boxer of the moment when she was nearly deported.
“[As] a Refugee Scholarship holder, I'm happy, and [able] to achieve many things and hopefully qualify for the Olympics and get a place in the Refugee Team.”
She's as passionate about being a voice for millions of displaced people around the world as she is about her boxing career.
“Being a refugee to me means a life-changing opportunity. A lot of refugees out there all around the world have so many potentials, but they don't have that the doors open for them yet. It’s a big family, all around the world.”
Ngamba hopes that as she rises up the boxing ranks, it can also focus a spotlight on what she and ten of other refugee athletes represent.
“I don't see myself as a role model. I see myself just like any human being, anyone that has a goal or aims in life. And I'm just trying to pursue it, just like anybody else.
“Me being in boxing, as a female, a black woman, an African and as a refugee, all these elements just come into place.”