Month: February 2016

Shooting: European Nations Qualify After 10m Championship

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Eight nations qualified spots to the Olympics at the 2016 European 10m Shooting Championship. The top three eligible shooters in the men’s and women’s air rifle and air pistol events qualified their nations to the Olympics. The European 10m Shooting Championship was held in Gyor, Hungary from February 22nd to February 28th 2016.

The women’s 10m air rifle was won by Serbia’s Andreas Arsovic who barely qualified to the final as she finished eighth in the qualification round; finish just 0.2 ahead of ninth place. The Olympics quotas went to bronze medalist Petra Lustenberger of Switzerland, Croata’s Tanja Perec and Hungary’s Julianna Miskolczi.

The quotas for the men’s 10m air pistol were decided after the qualification round as there were only three eligible athletes remaining. Poland’s Wojciech Knapik, Georgia’s Tsotne Machavariani and Hungary’s Miklos Tatrai all qualified their nation to the Olympics. The event was won by Turkey’s Yusuf Dikec whom came from behind to defeat Spain’s Pablo Carrerra.

The women’s 10m air pistol was also decided during the qualification round as the quotas went to Hungary’s Viktoria Egri, Croatia’s Marija Marovic and Poland’s Beata Bartkow-Kwiatkowska. The event was won by Ukraine’s Olena Kostevych.

After the conclusion of the qualification round the quotas for the men’s 10m air rifle went to, Germany’s Julian Justus, Norway’s Ole Magnus Bakken and Spain’s Jorge Diaz. The event was won by Russia’s Sergey Kamenskiy.

This was the final qualification event for shooting. All that remains to be decided are the tripartite quotas for underrepresented nations and the reallocation of unused quotas given back by qualified nations.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Hungary – 3
  • Croatia – 2
  • Poland – 2
  • Georgia – 1
  • Germany – 1
  • Norway – 1
  • Spain – 1
  • Switzerland – 1

 

References

Taekwondo: Four Nations Reach Olympics After Oceania Qualifier

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Australia won the maximum quota as four nations qualify at the 2016 Oceania Taekwondo Qualification Tournament. The winner of each weight class qualified to the Olympics. As a rule in taekwondo nations can only send a maximum of two athletes per gender to the tournament provided they have not qualified any yet. The Oceania Taekwondo Qualification Tournament was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on February 27th 2016.

Sisters Caroline and Carmen Marton of Australia both qualified in the women’s -57kg and -67kg events respectively while Carman’s husband, Khalil Safwan qualified in the men’s -58kg. The Australian team was rounded up by Hayder Shkara whom defeated New Zealand’s Vaughn Scott in the final.

Another family duo qualified from Papua New Guinea as Samantha Kassman and her nephew Maxamillion Kassman both qualified in the women’s +67kg and men’s -68kg events respectively. To encourage more refugees to take part at the Olympics Afghanistan refugee Arash Arian took part in the men’s -68kg event, but lost to Kassman in the first round.

The largest upset of the tournament came at the final of the men’s +80kg where Tonga’s Pita Taufatofua defeated New Zealand’s Dafydd Sanders in the finals in order to qualify to the Olympics. The final Olympic spot went to New Zealand’s Andrea Kilday whom defeated Papua New Guinea’s Rose Mary Tona in the women’s -49kg final.

This was the final opportunity to qualify to the Olympics for athletes in the Oceania region. The remaining continents will have their qualification tournament over the coming weeks.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Australia – 4
  • Papua New Guinea – 2
  • New Zealand – 1
  • Tonga – 1

 

References

Cycling Road: Namibia On Top In Women’s Road Race

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Namibia was able to win its first gold medal in the women’s road race at the 2016 African Road Cycling Continental Championship. The highest ranked eligible nation was given a spot to compete in the women’s road race event at the Olympics. The African Road Cycling Continental Championship was held in multiple cities across Morocco from February 23rd to February 26th 2016.

The women’s road race had a leading group of 20 cyclists for most of the race. South Africa’s An-Li Kachelhoffer and Mauritius’ Kimberley Le Court attempted to break away from the pack, but were soon brought back into the pack. As the race entered its final stage a small group of cyclists finally broke away from the pack leaving four cyclists with a sprint finish to the line. It was Namibia’s Vera Adrian which won the gold and a spot for her nation at the Olympics with a final time of 3:39:48. Kachelhoffer and Le Court settled for silver and bronze respectively while Ethiopia’s Tsege Beyene was left in fourth position.

While the continental championships happen earlier the World Rankings have a higher priority when it comes to qualification. It is unlikely that Namibia would qualify through the rankings, but in the event that they do the spot will be reallocated to the next best nation at this event, namely South Africa, Mauritius or Ethiopia in this order.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Namibia – 1

 

References

Diving: China Tops Podium At World Cup

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China led all nations by winning six out of the eight events at the 2016 Diving World Cup. The top four not yet qualified nations in the synchronized diving events along with any non-qualified athletes which have made the top 18 in the individual events qualified their nation to the Olympics, provided they have not exceeded the nation limit of two. The Diving World Cup was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from February 19th to February 24th 2016.

China led all nations during the preliminary round in the women’s synchronized 10m platform. Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia produced the best dives in each of the five rounds. The same was seen during the final as the pair won with a 25.14 lead at 344.04 points. China had already earned a spot at the Olympics meaning the four spots went to Malaysia, Great Britain, United States and Mexico. As a reminder Mexico is still suspended by FINA and should the suspension not get lifted it is believe that athletes which have qualified in diving, swimming and synchronized swimming will compete under the Olympic banner.

In the preliminary round of the men’s synchronized 3m springboard it was China’s Cao Yuan and Qin Kai which led the pack. The final took an interesting turn after the third dive where a major mistake by Cao and Qin pushed them down to fifth. For the rest of the final China was playing catch-up while Mexico, Great Britain and Germany attempted to outdo each other. In the end China was unable to catch-up as they finished in second while both Mexico and Great Britain had a poor final dive leaving Germany’s Stephan Feck and Patrick Hausding as the gold medalists. The four nations which grabbed their spots to the Olympics were Germany, Mexico, Italy and the United States.

China’s Shi Tingmao and Wu Minxia did just enough to finish on top of the women’s synchronized 3m springboard ahead of Italy during the preliminaries. The Chinese pair would have a more impressive performance in the final as they finished 27.33 points ahead of Canada’s Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware to win the gold medal. Since both nations already qualified to the Olympics the four quotas went to Italy, Malaysia, Great Britain and Germany.

The preliminary round of the men’s synchronized 10m platform began as a close match between China’s Chen Aisen and Lin Yue and Germany’s Patrick Hausding and Sascha Klein, but a poor fourth dive by Chen and Lin gave Germany the easy victory. Chen and Lin would recover from this loss in the final and held the lead from start to finish, winning the gold medal over Germany. The four quotas went to Germany, Great Britain, the United States and Ukraine.

Going into the individual events, the preliminary round of the women’s 10m platform was won by Pandelela Pamg of Malaysia whom did just enough to finish ahead of her Chinese rivals. The semi-final was won by Si Yajie of China whose final dive was just good enough to finish ahead of her compatriot Ren Qian. Ren Qian wouldn’t make the same mistake in the final as she put together one of the best strings of dives ever seen scoring 454.65 where 477 would have been completely perfect. Si Yajie won the silver medal while Melissa Wu of Australia won the bronze.

Athletes not already qualified who reached the top 18 in the women’s 10m platform gave the following nations quotas to the Olympics; Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Japan (2), Mexico, Russia and the United States.

In the men’s 3m springboard a couple of mistakes by China’s He Chao gave the opportunity for France’s Matthieu Rosset to take the top spot during the preliminary round. He Chao would recover and win the semi-final round, but more mistakes in the final ultimately had him finish in sixth place. The winner of the event was suspended Mexico’s Rommel Pacheco whom finished over 45 points ahead of surprise silver medalist Yona Knight-Wisdom of Jamaica.

Athletes not already qualified who reached the top 18 in the men’s 3m springboard gave the following nations quotas to the Olympics; Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy (2), Jamaica, Japan, Mexico and the United States (2).

Italy’s Tania Cagnotto had a strong final two dives in order to finish first in the preliminary round of the women’s 3m springboard event. Cagnotto would be pushed to fourth place in the semi-finals as Shi Tingmao of China led for the entire round. In the final Shi would continue her performance to win the gold medal ahead of her compatriot He Zi.

Athletes not already qualified who reached the top 18 in the women’s 3m springboard gave the following nations quotas to the Olympics; Brazil, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico (2), Netherlands, Russia and the United States.

In the men’s 10m platform it was three time world champion Qiu Bo whom led all athletes in the preliminaries. He would continue this performance in both the semi-finals and finals to win the gold medal with 557.75 points. The silver medal went to his compatriot Chen Aisen and United States’ David Dinsmore.

Athletes not already qualified who reached the top 18 in the men’s 10m platform gave the following nations quotas to the Olympics; Brazil, Canada, Colombia (2), Puerto Rico, South Korea, the United States and Venezuela (2).

While this is the final qualification event for diving more athletes will be added as additional divers. Depending on the amount of overlap between divers in the synchronization and individual events more divers will be added to ensure that 68 male and 68 female divers are present, with a preference of 34 for each height. We won’t officially know who made it until other nations begin to announce their diving team, but historically the first few divers which missed the semi-finals are very likely to be qualified. An updated list will be provided once this is known.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • United States – 8
  • Great Britain – 6
  • Mexico – 6
  • Germany – 5
  • Italy – 5
  • Brazil – 3
  • Canada – 3
  • Colombia – 3
  • Japan – 3
  • Malaysia – 3
  • Russia – 2
  • Venezuela – 2
  • Ireland – 1
  • Jamaica – 1
  • Netherlands – 1
  • Puerto Rico – 1
  • South Korea – 1
  • Ukraine – 1

 

References

Football: United States Wins Women’s CONCACAF Olympic Qualifier

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United States went undefeated and did not concede a goal in their win at the 2016 Women’s CONCACAF Olympic Qualification Tournament. The eight-team tournament was split into two groups of four teams where the top two advance to the semi-finals. The winner and runner-up both qualified to the Olympics. The 2016 Women’s CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament was held in Frisco and Houston, United States from February 10th to February 21st 2016.

Group A was topped by World and Olympic Champions United States as they went 16-0 against their opposition. They did struggle to defeat a resilient Mexico taking until the 80th minute for Carli Lloyd to score the only goal. Costa Rica would grab the upset over Mexico to reach the semi-finals. Costa Rica went up 2-0 with two goals by Raquel Rodriguez and while a 79th minute goal by Maribel Dominguez made the match interesting Costa Rica was able to hold on for a 2-1 win.

Group B was similarly dominated by Canada whom went 21-0 against the opposition. The upset of the group came from Guyana who was making their debut in this tournament. A comeback 2-1 win over Guatemala gave them the possibility to qualify to the semi-final. It was not to be as Trinidad and Tobago would go up 4-0 in the first 21 minutes and ended up winning the match 5-1 to reach the semi-finals.

Canada would take the game to Costa Rica and eventually made it 2-0 with two goals by Christine Sinclair. Costa Rica would score the first goal against Canada so far this tournament through a penalty kick at the 71st minute. Canada would however, seal their spot to the Olympics through an 86th minute goal by Deanne Rose to win the match 3-1. The United States also booked its spot to the Olympics led by a hat trick by Alex Morgan as they defeated Trinidad and Tobago 5-0.

In the final Canada was able to keep an attacking United States at bay, but two second half goals by Lindsey Horan and Tobin Heath gave the United States a 2-0 win.

This was the final qualification event for nations in the CONCACAF region. The remaining continental qualifiers will continue over the next month as the Asian and final European teams remain to be decided.

 

Tournament Rankings

  • 1. United States
  • 2. Canada
  • 3. Costa Rica
  • 3. Trinidad and Tobago
  • 5. Mexico
  • 5. Guyana
  • 5. Guatemala
  • 5. Puerto Rico

 

References

Canoeing: Australia Qualified in Men’s C1 After Oceania Slalom Championship

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Australia qualified a boat while Cook Islands benefited from the reallocation rule at the 2016 Oceania Canoe Slalom Championships. The highest ranked eligible nation will be given a spot to compete in the men’s K1, women’s K1 and men’s C1. While other nations were allowed to participate in the Oceania Championships only nations from the continent were eligible to qualify. The Oceania Canoe Slalom Championship was held in Penrith, Australia from January 19th to January 21st 2016.

One major rule to make a continental event legal is the fact that three eligible boats must compete. This was made impossible for the men’s K1 and women’s K1 to be eligible events since only four nations were allowed to compete at the Oceania championships (the same ones that competed at the 2015 World Championship) and Australia and New Zealand have already qualified. The reallocation process is that the highest ranked nation from that continent at the 2015 World Championships will be given a quota. This means the Cook Islands qualified in both the men’s K1 and women’s K1.

The only eligible event at this championship for Olympic qualification was the men’s C1. Australia would end up taking the spot by virtue of their semi-final appearance as both New Zealand and Fiji failed to reach that stage. Slovakia’s Matej Benus ended up winning gold at the event.

This was the final canoeing qualification event for Oceania. The remaining continents will have their qualification events over the coming weeks.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Cook Islands – 2
  • Australia – 1

 

References

Table Tennis: Nigeria Tops Africa Olympic Qualification Tournament

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Three nations qualified athletes to the Olympics after the 2016 African Table Tennis Olympic Qualification Tournament. The men’s and women’s tournament had two stages; a group stage and an elimination stage. The top two athletes from each event qualify to the Olympics. The African Table Tennis Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Khartoum, Sudan from February 16th to February 18th 2016.

The largest upset in the women’s group stage was Safa Saidani of Tunisia’s 3-1 win over Islem Laid of Algeria. While both athletes advanced to the knock-out round Saidani’s win gave her the top spot of the group and an easier path for Olympic qualification. Laid’s loss would come to haunt her as she was defeated in the quarter-finals by Nigeria’s Offiong Edem. Edem booked her spot to the Olympics by defeating Algeria’s Lynda Loghraibi 4-0. Safa Saidani would cause one more upset in order to qualify to the Olympics as she used all seven sets to defeat Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou 4-3. Edem won the tournament 4-0 over Saidani.

The men’s group stage went mostly as expected as the top four athletes finished atop of their respective groups with little to no trouble. The top four seeds would all reach the semi-finals though Togo’s Mawussi Agbetoglo required all seven sets to win 4-3 over Madagascar’s Jonathan Nativel. Segun Toriola of Nigeria set an African record of most Olympic appearances after he defeated Agbetoglo 4-0 to qualify to the Olympics. The second Olympic spot went to Congo’s Suraju Saka whom defeated Tunisia’s Adem Hmam in a seven set thriller. Toriola won the tournament 4-1 over Saka.

This was the final opportunity for African players to qualify to the Olympics. By qualifying their second players Nigeria’s men and women and Congo’s men along with previously qualified Egypt’s men and women will be the only nations eligible to qualify in the team events. The highest ranked team in the world rankings from Africa will get the spot to compete.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Nigeria – 2
  • Congo – 1
  • Tunisia – 1

 

References

Volleyball: Cameroon Will Make Its Olympic Debut In Women’s Volleyball

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Cameroon will be making its debut to the Olympics in women’s volleyball after they won the 2016 Women’s African Olympic Qualification Tournament. Seven teams were split into two groups where the top two from each group advanced to the semi-finals. The winner of the tournament qualified to the Olympics. The Women’s African Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Yaoundé, Cameroon from February 12th to February 16th 2016.

Group A was topped by Kenya whom won both of its matches by a combined set score of 6-1. The match for second place between Cameroon and Tunisia began with Cameroon taking a two set lead, however Tunisia was able to win the third set 30-28 and the fourth to push the match to the distance. Cameroon would recover to win the final set 15-6 to advance to the semi-final.

Group B was dominated by Algeria and Egypt as the two teams won straight sets against both Botswana and Uganda. The match between the two began with Egypt taking the first set, but Algeria would go on to win the next three sets to win the match 3-1.

The first match between Kenya and Egypt went to the fifth set as both teams traded sets between them. Not to be outdone the fifth set had to be extended until one team won by two points. In the end it was Egypt whom won the final set 19-17 to advance to the final. The other semi-final between Algeria and Cameroon turned into a lopsided win for Cameroon as the team swept the match 3-0 to reach the final.

In the final Cameroon won the first set 25-14, but Egypt would go to take the next two sets. Cameroon would force a fifth where a strong 15-7 clinched them the title and a spot at the Olympics. Kenya won the bronze over Algeria 3-0.

This will be Cameroon’s first appearance in women’s volleyball at the Olympics. Egypt and Kenya will get one more opportunity to qualify as both teams will compete in the intercontinental tournament against Colombia and Puerto Rico for one spot.

 

Tournament Rankings

  1. Cameroon
  2. Egypt
  3. Kenya
  4. Algeria
  5. Botswana
  6. Tunisia
  7. Uganda

 

References

Canoeing: Oceania Qualifies After Sprint Qualifier

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Australia swept the Olympic events at the 2016 Oceania Sprint Canoeing Championship. The highest ranked eligible boat with the exception of the men’s K4 1000m and women’s K4 500m qualified to the Olympics. There are a lot of other exceptions in canoeing which we will get into below. The Oceania Championship was held in Adelaide, Australia from February 12th to February 14th 2016.

The first major rule is that for the event to be sanctioned at least three different nations must participate. This was met in all events except in the men’s K2 1000m. Since Australia already qualified to the event at the world championship that only left New Zealand and Cook Islands to attempt to qualify. The quota will be reallocated to the next best ranked nation at the 2015 World Championship, specifically Lithuania.

Another rule is that an athlete can only qualify one spot, though that was not a problem at this championship. A nation can also only qualify 1 type of boat (K1, K2, C1) where the shorter distance will be reallocated to the next eligible nation. Also a nation can only qualify two athlete quotas in the canoe events.

For the kayak events this is relatively simple; Australia has qualified a spot in the men’s K1 200m, men’s K2 200m, women’s K1 500m and women’s K2 500m, New Zealand has qualified in the men’s K1 1000m and Samoa qualified in the women’s K1 200m.

For the canoe events things become a bit tricky. Australia must choose between the men’s C1 1000m and C2 1000m. The event which they do not choose will go to New Zealand. The Cook Islands qualified in the men’s C1 200m.

To wrap up their continental qualifiers Oceania will have their slalom qualifier over the coming weeks. Other continents will continue to have their qualifiers as we approach the Olympics.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Australia – 5
  • New Zealand – 2
  • Cook Islands – 1
  • Samoa – 1

 

References

Taekwondo: 10 Nations Qualify After African Qualifers

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Ten nations, including two which will be making their Olympic debut in the sport qualified to the Olympics at the conclusion of the 2016 African Olympic Qualification Tournament. The two finalists were given spots to compete at the Olympics. Nations must also respect the maximum quota of 2 men and 2 women across all qualification methods. The African Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Agadir, Morocco from February 6th to February 7th 2016.

The first day had four events. The women’s -49kg had one of the biggest surprises in the tournament as Cape Verde’s Maria Andrade grabbed one of the two spots. Her path was quite difficult as she had to go defeat African Games silver medalist (-46kg) Fadia Farhani of Tunisia 4-1. The second quota went to Congo DR’s Rosa Keleku as she defeated Ethiopia’s Nardos Chifra 6-3 in the semi-finals. Keleku defeated Andrade 3-2 to win the tournament. Both of these nations will be making their Olympic debut in taekwondo.

The men’s -58kg also had a large upset as African Games gold medalist Romain Trolliet was defeated in the quarter-finals by judge’s decision against Lesotho’s Marumo Moloisane after the match was tied 2-2. Moloisane failed to grab the Olympic quota as he lost subsequently to Morocco’s Omar Hajjami 3-0. The second Olympic spot went to Libya’s Yousef Shriha as he defeated Ethiopia’s Sisay Baykedagne 8-5. Hajjami won the tournament defeating Shriha 6-3.

There were no upsets in the women’s -67kg as both Seham El-Sawalhy of Egypt and Cote d’Ivoire’s Ruth Gbagbi repeated their performance from 2012 and qualified to the Olympics. Gbagbi went all out in the final and defeated El-Sawalhy 10-4 to win the event.

The first quota of the men’s +80kg was won by African Games +87kg gold medalist Abdoul-Razak Issoufou of Niger whom defeated former Olympian Daba Keita of Mali and +87kg 2015 World silver medalist Firmin Zokou of Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 and 10-9 respectively. The second spot went to Tunisia’s Yassine Trabelsi whom defeated Central African Republic Remy Alazoula 6-1 in the semi-finals. Trabelsi defeated Issoufou 1-0 to win the tournament.

On the second day in the women’s +67kg it was 2012 Olympian Wiam Dislam of Morocco whom secured the first quota by defeating Nigeria’s Uzoamaka Otuadinma. The second spot went to fellow finalist Mamina Kone of Cote d’Ivoire whom defeated Aminata Doumbia of Mali. The tournament title went to Kone as she defeated Dislam.

In the men’s -68kg the referee had to stop the fight between Senegal’s Balla Dieye against Nigeria’s Edwin Samson due to a hard kick to the head. This gave Dieye a spot in the final and an Olympic quota. The second quota went to 2015 African Games champion Ghofan Zaki of Egypt whom defeated 2012 Olympian David Boui of Central African Republic 7-1. Zaki won the tournament over Dieye in a close 2-1 encounter.

The biggest upset of the day occurred in the women’s -57kg where top seed Bineta Diedhiou was defeated in the quarter-finals by Morocco’s Hakima El-Meslahy. El-Meslahy would go on to reach the finals and obtain a quota for her nation by defeating Chinazum Mwosu of Nigeria. The other semi-final was between Tunisia’s Rahma Ben Ali and Ghana’s Danielle Pelham. Ben Ali won the match and reached the final. The final was a very defensive encounter and the match was judged by the judges after the match ended in a 1-1 draw. El-Meslahy was declared the victor.

The first Olympic quota in the men’s -80kg went to Tunisia’s Oussama Oueslati as he easily defeated Senegal’s Gorome Kare 16-6. The second quota was won by 2015 World bronze medalist in the -74kg category Ismael Coulibaly of Mali whom defeated 2014 Youth Olympic bronze medalist Seif Eissa of Egypt 8-3. The title went to Oueslati as he defeated Coulibaly 2-0 for the title.

This was the final opportunity for African nations to qualify in taekwondo. The remaining spots will be filled by athletes from Oceania, Pan America and Asia over the coming weeks.

 

Quotas by Nations

  • Morocco – 3
  • Tunisia – 3
  • Egypt – 2
  • Ivory Coast – 2
  • Cape Verde – 1
  • Congo DR – 1
  • Libya – 1
  • Mali – 1
  • Niger – 1
  • Senegal – 1

 

References