Mathews Punza
Personal information
NationalityZambian
Born (1988-04-27) 27 April 1988
Sport
SportJudo

Mathews Punza (born 27 April 1988) is a Zambian judoka. He participated in the 2010 World Judo Championships and later championships.[1]

Punza began studying judo at the age of six,[2] attending classes at Lilayi Police College.[2] As an adult, he became an officer in the police service.[2]

In 2015, Punza and fellow Zambian judoka Boas Munyonga traveled to Uzbekistan to study judo, under a scholarship program from the International Judo Federation.[3] Punza and Munyoga were unable to compete in the 2016 European Open Championship, as a result of visa difficulties with the government of the Czech Republic.[4] In spite of this, Punza was able to qualify to compete in the Olympics by scoring enough points in competition to meet the continental qualification quota.[5]

Punza competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where he was Zambia's flag bearer during the opening ceremony.[6] In the men's 66 kg class, he defeated Golan Pollack of Israel in the second round, but lost to Adrian Gomboč of Slovenia in the third round.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Mathews Punza – judoka". judoinside.com. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Wakung'uma, Shapa. Zambia: Looking At Judo in Police Service, The Times of Zambia (via AllAfrica.com), August 22, 2015.
  3. ↑ Munyonga, Punza Uzbekistan bound, The Zambia Daily Mail, February 11, 2015.
  4. ↑ Visa hitch knocks out Munyonga, Punza, the Zambia Daily Mail, February 25, 2016.
  5. ↑ Samuel, Zambia: Punza Makes Rio Team, The Times of Zambia (via AllAfrica.com), May 31, 2016.
  6. ↑ Akwei, Ismail. Colourful Africa parades at the Rio Olympics (East Africa), AfricaNews.com, August 9, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Mathews Punza". rio2016.com. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
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