Zambia’s Barbra Banda is Tokyo’s breakout star

Barbra Banda is having a moment.

The Zambian striker notched back-to-back hat tricks in the country’s first two group stage matches against the Netherlands and China. She is the first player to ever score multiple hat tricks in a single Olympic Games, and she did it in consecutive matches.

Banda opened the scoring in the 19^th minute of the Netherlands game, scoring Zambia’s first-ever Olympic goal. The captain’s heroic efforts provided a silver lining for Zambia, who fell to the Netherlands 10-3 on Wednesday.

THE FIRST OLYMPIC GOAL IN ZAMBIA HISTORY! 😱

Barbara Banda makes history at the #TokyoOlympics! pic.twitter.com/lUG3DXCj8K

— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 21, 2021

Zambia and Banda bounced back after the loss, fighting to a 4-4 draw with China on Saturday. Banda’s second hat trick of the tournament catapulted her to the top of Tokyo’s scoring charts.

Come for the reverse angle of Banda’s third 🔥🔥 stay for the team celly 🙌🏾🙌🏾pic.twitter.com/xWwJnIyihc

— This is a Barbra Banda Stan Account (@DiasporaUtdPod) July 24, 2021

Zambia will play for a spot in the knockout rounds when they face Brazil on Tuesday.