Somalia, 20 September 2025– Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has presented international boxer Ramla Ali with a certificate of recognition during a meeting at Villa Somalia, the presidency said on Saturday.
Ali, who has represented Somalia in international competitions, was honored for her perseverance and contribution to raising the country’s profile abroad. Villa Somalia described her as a source of encouragement and unity for Somalis.
“We appreciate and are very grateful for representing Somalia in global events,” President Hassan Sheikh said during the ceremony.
The boxer returned to Somalia last week, her first visit in several years.
Ali is regarded as a trailblazer in Somali sports. She became the first Somali woman to compete at the Olympics when she entered the Tokyo Games in 2021 and has since pursued a professional career marked by both victories and challenges.
She grew up in London after her family fled Somalia’s civil war and initially trained in secret before becoming the first Muslim woman to win an English boxing title in 2015.
She later won a featherweight championship in 2019 and made history in 2022 by winning the first professional women’s boxing match staged in Saudi Arabia.
Outside the ring, Ali founded The Sisters Club in 2018, a nonprofit that provides free and inclusive boxing classes for women.
