Hamilton-based Sol2023 Pacific Games gold medal winning boxer Sheilla Yama with trainer Cairo George.
Hamilton-based Sol2023 Pacific Games gold medal winning boxer Sheilla Yama with trainer Cairo George.
Hamilton-based welterweight boxer Sheilla Yama has won gold for Papua New Guinea at the Sol2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands, moving her a step closer to qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris.
Now ranked No 1 in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Oceania, Yama works full-time as a healthcare worker at Waikato Hospital and has been boxing for seven years.
“Because I had no previous experience of overseas fights or medals, Team PNG boxing wouldn’t allow me to compete in the Olympics qualifying category at the Pacific Games.
“I had to have a medal of some sort to qualify, so the plan was to win gold and then qualify for the Olympic qualifiers next year. Now I’m just waiting for the qualifiers to happen.”
Yama said training and fighting in the heat was a struggle after getting used to New Zealand’s colder weather.
“I did not know what it would mean if I were to win gold going into the Pacific Games. All I knew was I had to win gold so I could go try out for the Olympic qualifiers next year and that was the goal. I’m truly humbled.
“I had two fights, one against a Solomon Islands boxer and the other one was a fellow teammate from PNG as there were only three of us in the 70kg division.”
Trainer Cairo George said he was proud of the strides Yama has made since joining the team at the beginning of 2023.
Hamilton-based boxer Sheilla Yama (centre) won gold at the Sol2023 Pacific Games representing Papua New Guinea.
“She has reached a new level and is ready to take on the world. David Nyika was part of our stable in his preparations for his 2020 Olympic bronze medal achievement, so I have been a part of Olympic prep before. In my opinion, Sheilla is more than ready for it.
“Since joining us, she’s had five fights with four wins including avenging a previous loss that she had before joining us, unanimously beating a six-time national champion, who was New Zealand No 1 at the time.”
After originally starting boxing to keep fit, the sport has become a part of who Yama is.
“I love and enjoy boxing, I’ve given so much of my time to this sport and I can’t wait to see where it will lead me,” she says.
“The next step is to get back into training with my awesome team, just taking it all one step at a time, no rush.”
Jesse Wood is a multimedia journalist based in Te Awamutu. He joined the Te Awamutu Courier and NZME in 2020.
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