Mathews Punza

Mathews Punza
Personal information
Nationality	Zambian
Born	27 April 1988 (age 33)
Sport
Sport	Judo

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 .^[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[]

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