A Zambian player has shattered a joint-top scorers’ record held by Nigerian female former internationals, Mercy Akide-Udoh and Perpetua Nkwocha at the Olympic Games, megasportsarena.com reports.
Akide and Nkwocha held the previous record of two goals by any Africa player at the Olympics, but a new feat of three goals and in a single match was enacted on Wednesday by Zambia’s Barbara Banda.
The China-based striker scored a goal in her debut and became the first African woman to net three goals at the global sports event, even as The Bronze Queens were defeated 10-3 by the Netherlands.
The Zambian captain broke four records during the game at Rifu Miyagi Stadium, where the first goal came after 15 minutes and The Lioness led 3-0, after which the 21-year-old Shanghai Victory FC striker narrowed her team’s deficit in the 19th minute.
Banda profited from Esther Siamfuko’s pass and passed it to goalkeeper, Sari van Veenendaal, thereby becoming the first Zambia player to score a goal in an Olympic Games’ women’s football match.
As Vivianne Miedema’s hat-trick gave the European a 6-1 lead at halftime, her debut became bad, and Lieke Martens also scored two layups.
In the second half, the Lions took a 10-1 lead with 10 minutes left in the game and continued to score goals.
Nevertheless, the China-based player scored the Zambian team’s second and third goals in the 82nd and 83rd minutes, and after scoring three more milestone goals, he got something to cheer about. .
By notching a treble, Banda became the first African to score three goals in the first game of a four-year sports event.
However, despite surpassing the previous mark of two set by Akide and Nkwocha, Banda’s side suffered the worst failure in history.
Incidentally, the Nigerian team gave Zambia their previous worst result when the Super Falcons defeat them 6-0 on October 14, 2014 in an African Women’s Cup of Nations fixture at Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek, Namibia.
