Ornella Sathoud: Ghana’s PhD boxer loses bout at Commonwealth Games

She was defeated by England’s Kerry Davis following a keenly contested fight on Friday, July 29, 2022.

Davis, who is 10 years younger than the 35-year-old Ornella, proved to be better during the bout and used her speed to her advantage.

The Englishwoman has, therefore, advanced to the round of 16 stages following her impressive victory in the middleweight contest.

Ornella was in the news earlier this week after it emerged that she was a PhD-holding athlete at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Despite spending much of her adult life in the United States (US), she represents Ghana, having been born to a Ghanaian mother and a Congolese father.

Sathoud had her education in the US, where she studied Analytical Chemistry and graduated with a PhD in the course.

The University of Delaware graduate fell in love with boxing along the way and has since adopted the sport as a hobby.

Dr. Sathoud is a typical sportswoman who started out as a track and field athlete before briefly playing volleyball as well.

In a previous interview with Ghanaweb, she disclosed that both of her parents were into sports, which influenced her career path.

“I wanted to do sports because I did sports growing up. My mother was a runner and my dad did judo,” she said in that interview.

“Growing up I did volleyball and running but my mom told me I should try boxing maybe I will like it so I tried it. I want to be productive so I told my coach I want to be ready to fight.

“So I started with kickboxing and I had three fights but since we couldn’t find any kickboxing fight he told me let’s do boxing, so I kept up with it and I said we should try the Olympics and he said before we start Olympics we have to start somewhere.”

Aside from sports, Ornella doubles as a Process Engineer