I was threatened with deportation and could have faced FIVE YEARS in prison for being gay now I’m making pro boxing bow OLYMPIC icon Cindy Ngamba was once threatened with deportation to Cameroon, where gay women face five years in prison.
Opened by Queen Victoria in 1871, a lectern for legendary Winston Churchill speeches and the home of The Proms, the Royal Albert Hall has housed much more than the boxing heroes Ngamba adores.
Now the 25-year-old has a Paris 2024 bronze medal — the Refugee Team’s first ever — and will make her pro debut at the Royal Albert Hall on March 7.
The lowest point came when Ngamba and her brother went for their weekly sign-in at a Manchester immigration office but were split up, handcuffed and almost returned to the country they left years before.
In these horribly dark days of far-right political progress and rampant anti-immigration propaganda stinking out social media, there is something magnificent about an African, lesbian refugee making her professional debut at the UK’s most prestigious venue.
