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.

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.

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