Tennis: ITF Updates Qualified List Again

With several late withdrawals in tennis the list of qualified athletes has changed again. In total 56 nations will send at least one athlete. As a reminder mixed doubles will be made up of athletes which have qualified in other events.

 

Athletes by Nations

• United States – 11
• France – 9
• Spain – 9
• Germany – 8
• Russia – 8
• Australia – 7
• Brazil – 7
• Czech Republic – 7
• Great Britain – 7
• Italy – 7
• Poland – 7
• Ukraine – 7
• Argentina – 6
• Japan – 6
• Romania – 6
• Serbia – 6
• China – 5
• Chinese Taipei – 5
• Canada – 4
• Croatia – 4
• India – 4
• Slovakia – 4
• Belgium – 3
• Colombia – 3
• Netherlands – 3
• Switzerland – 3
• Austria – 2
• Belarus – 2
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2
• Bulgaria – 2
• Chile – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Kazakhstan – 2
• Mexico – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• Portugal – 2
• Thailand – 2
• Tunisia – 2
• Barbados – 1
• Denmark – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Georgia – 1
• Israel – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Liechtenstein – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Luxembourg – 1
• Moldova – 1
• Montenegro – 1
• Paraguay – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Uruguay – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1

 

Reference

• ITF. Rio 2016 Olympic Tennis Event entries. Access on July 31 2016.

Golf: Olympic Rankings Published

The International Golf Federation has published the Olympic Golf Rankings. Over the past two years athletes gained points from select events which form the rankings. For athletes ranked in the top 15 a maximum of four athletes can represent one nation. However, for athletes ranked outside of the top 15 the maximum for one nation becomes two. In total sixty athletes will take part in each event. The ranking period lasted from July 14th 2014 to July 10th 2016.

While golf makes its return to the Olympics since 1904 it has been a bit of a bumpy ride for the men’s event. There have been multiple withdrawals, including the four highest ranked athletes in the rankings. Many of these golfers cited fear towards the Zika virus as the reason for their withdrawal. Overall only the United States will send the maximum of four athletes while other nations will send one or two athletes.

The women however have had much fewer withdrawals with everyone eligible in the top 15 so far committing to the games. South Korea will be the only nation sending four athletes while the United States will send three.

In total 40 nations will compete in golf’s return to the Olympics. Athletes and nations have one week to formally confirm their participation to the games so there may be a few more withdrawals before the games begin.

 

Quotas by Nations

• United States – 7
• South Korea – 6
• Australia – 4
• Canada – 4
• China – 4
• Chinese Taipei – 4
• Denmark – 4
• Finland – 4
• France – 4
• Germany – 4
• Great Britain – 4
• Italy – 4
• Japan – 4
• Malaysia – 4
• New Zealand – 4
• South Africa – 4
• Spain – 4
• Sweden – 4
• Thailand – 4
• Belgium – 3
• India – 3
• Ireland – 3
• Netherlands – 3
• Norway – 3
• Argentina – 2
• Austria – 2
• Brazil – 2
• Colombia – 2
• Mexico – 2
• Paraguay – 2
• Philippines – 2
• Switzerland – 2
• Bangladesh – 1
• Chile – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Hong Kong – 1
• Israel – 1
• Portugal – 1
• Russia – 1
• Venezuela – 1

 

References

• IGF. Men’s Olympic Golf Rankings. Access on July 11 2016.
• IGF. Women’s Olympic Golf Rankings. Access on July 11 2016.

Tennis: Qualified Athlete List Released

The International Tennis Federation has announced the full list of qualified athletes based on the ATP and WTA rankings. A nation can only qualify a maximum of six athletes for each gender. The ATP and WTA rankings contain various events throughout the year, specifically events taking place from June 8th 2015 to June 5th 2016.

For the singles the top 56 eligible athletes in the men’s ATP and women’s WTA rankings are qualified to the Olympics. A nation can only qualify a maximum of four athletes in each singles event and the athlete must fulfill their requirements to the Davis and Fed Cup or get special permission. Six quotas are classified as ITF places which are allocated to the (if unqualified) host nation, continental representation (must be in top 300) and former Olympic gold medalists or Grand Slam champions (must be in top 200). Should those quotas not be filled the next highest ranked eligible athlete will qualify. Also two tripartite quotas were allocated to each of the singles events.

For the doubles athletes in the top 10 of the men’s ATP and women’s WTA are qualified. Similarly they must fulfill the Davis and Fed Cup requirements. The athletes can partner with any eligible player from their nation provided that they do not exceed the maximum of two doubles teams in an event. 14 spots go to the teams with the highest combined rankings (singles or doubles). 8 spots are classified as ITF places which are allocated to the (if unqualified) host nation (must have combined ranking of less than 500) and continental representation (must have combined ranking of less than 300). Should those quotas not be filled the next highest ranked doubles will qualify.

The men’s singles list contains a few missing top athletes with the 4 in the top 20 missing. Reasons for not competing ranged from not fulfilling the Davis Cup requirements (South Africa’s Kevin Anderson), issues with their NOC (Australia’s Nick Kyrigos) and wanting to focus on the ATP season (Austria’s Dominic Thiem and United States’ John Isner). Of the four Thiem was the highest ranked athlete at the time of the Olympic rankings publication at seventh.

One of the interesting developments on the men’s side is that the ITF has provisionally included some athletes provided that they compete at the July Davis Cup or have an appeal. This was reserved for athletes who have not completed their Davis Cup requirements; the most notable athlete subjected to this is Spain’s Rafael Nadal. In the men’s singles seven athletes qualified through protected rankings, usually reserved from athletes returning from long term injury. Athletes which qualified through the injury list include. Argentina’s Juan Monaco and Juan Martin del Potro, Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis, Chinese Taipei’s Lu Yen-Hsun, Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz and United States’ Brian Baker. Overall the ITF Places were reallocated to the next best ranked athletes while the tripartite commission selected Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur and Barabdos’ Darian King to compete at the Olympics.

The women’s singles on the other hand had relatively few missing top athletes. Out of the top 40 only two are missing, recently retired Flavia Pennetta of Italy and Russia’s Maria Sharapova whom is serving a doping ban. Three athletes also used their protected rankings as a way to qualify to the Olympics; China’s Peng Shuai, Italy’s Karin Knapp and Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva. Also three athletes qualified through the intended use of the ITF Places; Brazil’s Teliana Pereira qualified by being from the host nation, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur qualified by being the highest ranked athlete from Africa and Italy’s Francesca Schiavone qualified by being a former Grand Slam champion. The other three quotas were reallocated to the next highest ranked eligible athletes. The tripartite commission selected Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg and Liechtenstein’s Stephanie Vogt to compete at the Olympics.

Unlike during the ATP and WTA tour doubles pairs must be from the same nation. This has caused many pairs to break-up and compete with someone else for one tournament. In the men’s doubles brother Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States will attempt to depend their gold medal. Overall six athletes will compete with someone else in the top 10 meaning three quotas are reallocated to the combined ranking list. Like with the men’s singles some athletes are provisionally chosen with the expectation that they will compete in July’s Davis Cup competition or submit an appeal. None of the ITF Places were used as intended and were reallocated to the highest combined ranked pairs which applied.

The women’s doubles will have the United States’ Serena and Venus Williams defending their Olympic gold medal. Four athletes will compete with someone else in the top 10 meaning two quotas are reallocated to the combined ranking list. One ITF Place was given to Brazil’s Teliana Pereira and Paula Cristina Goncalves so that the host nation will have participation. The other seven places were reallocated to the highest combined ranked pairs which applied.

The mixed doubles pairs won’t actually be announced until after the Olympics begin. Only players which have already qualified in other events can participate. A total of 16 pairs will compete, with 4 ITF Places included.

 

Athletes by Nations

• United States – 12
• Czech Republic – 10
• France – 9
• Germany – 9
• Spain – 9
• Russia – 8
• Brazil – 7
• Great Britain – 7
• Italy – 7
• Serbia – 7
• Ukraine – 7
• Argentina – 6
• Australia – 6
• Switzerland – 6
• Chinese Taipei – 5
• Romania – 5
• Canada – 4
• China – 4
• India – 4
• Japan – 4
• Kazakhstan – 4
• Poland – 4
• Slovakia – 4
• Belarus – 3
• Belgium – 3
• Croatia – 3
• Netherlands – 3
• Austria – 2
• Bulgaria – 2
• Chile – 2
• Colombia – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Latvia – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• Portugal – 2
• Tunisia – 2
• Barbados – 1
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1
• Cyprus – 1
• Denmark – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Israel – 1
• Liechtenstein – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Luxembourg – 1
• Montenegro – 1
• Paraguay – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Uruguay – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1

 

References

• ITF. Rio 2016 Olympic Tennis Event entries. Access on June 30 2016.

Cycling BMX: BMX Quotas Decided

With the update of the World Rankings the BMX quotas have been decided. There are three stages in which quotas are allocated. First is the Olympic Qualification Rankings where athletes can earn points for their nation at select events such as, the World Championship, World Cup, Continental Championship and others. For the men the top four nations qualified three athletes, nations ranked 5th to 7th qualify 2 athletes while nations ranked 8th to 13th qualify 1 athlete. For the women the top three nations qualified two athletes and nations ranked 4th to 7th qualify 1 athlete. The ranking period was from May 31st 2014 to May 30th 2016.

The second way to qualify quotas was through the UCI Individual Rankings. Athletes can earn points at select events such as, the World Championship, World Cup, Continental Championship and others. Nations which did not qualify through the Olympic Rankings are eligible. The top four individual athletes for the men and the top three individual athletes for the women qualify their nation to the Olympics. The ranking period was from May 31st 2015 to May 30th 2016.

The final way athletes can qualify was through the 2016 BMX World Championship. The top three for men and top two for women ranked athletes from nations not yet qualified qualify their nation to the Olympics. The BMX World Championship was held in Medellin, Colombia from May 25th to May 29th 2016.

The Olympic Qualification Rankings for the men’s BMX was as follows; United States, Netherlands, Australia and France all qualified three athletes, Great Britain, Latvia and Colombia qualified two athletes and Argentina, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil and Japan qualified one athlete.

The nations which qualified through the Individual Rankings were as follow; Alfredo Campo (Ecuador), Russia (Evgeny Komarov), Germany (Luis Brethauer) and Norway (Tore Navrestad). At the World Championship the gold medal was won by France’s Joris Daudet whom narrowly defeated Netherlands’ Niek Kimmann by 0.048 of a second. The Olympic quotas went to South Africa (Kyle Dodd), Venezuela (Jefferson Milano), and Denmark (Niklas Lausten). Since Brazil qualified through the Olympic Rankings the host quota will be reallocated to the next best nation in the Olympic Rankings not yet qualified, specifically Indonesia.

For the women’s BMX the following nations qualified through the Olympic Qualification Rankings; Australia, United States and Netherlands qualified two athletes and Colombia, France, Venezuela and Russia qualified one athlete. The nations which qualified through the Individual Rankings were as follows; Belgium (Elke Vanhoof), Denmark (Simone Christensen) and Argentina (Maria Gabriela Diaz).

At the World Championship the women’s BMX was won by 2012 Olympic gold medalist Mariana Pajon of Colombia whom finished with a time of 41.385, well ahead of second place Caroline Buchanan of Australia whom finished with a time of 42.312. The Olympic quotas went to Germany (Nadja Pries) and Brazil (Priscilla Stevaux Carnaval). Since Brazil qualified normally its host quota has been reallocated to the next best nation in the Olympic Rankings not yet qualified, specifically Thailand.

This concludes the qualification for the BMX events. All that is remaining is for nations to confirm their qualification quotas.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Australia – 5
• Netherlands – 5
• United States – 5
• France – 4
• Colombia – 3
• Argentina – 2
• Brazil – 2
• Denmark – 2
• Germany – 2
• Great Britain – 2
• Latvia – 2
• Russia – 2
• Venezuela – 2
• Belgium – 1
• Canada – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Indonesia – 1
• Japan – 1
• Norway – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• South Africa – 1
• Switzerland – 1
• Thailand – 1

 

References

• UCI. 2016 BMX Cycling Rankings. Access on May 31 2016.
• UCI. 2016 BMX World Championship Men’s Results. Access on May 31 2016.
• UCI. 2016 BMX World Championship Women’s Results. Access on May 31 2016.

Cycling Mountain: Cross-Country Olympic Rankings Published

The UCI Olympic Qualification Rankings have been published. The rankings consisted of the combined point total obtained by a nation’s top three athletes at select world and continental events over the past two years. For the men’s rankings nations ranked 1st-5th qualified three athletes, 6th-13th qualified two athletes and 14th-23rd qualified one athlete. For the women’s rankings nations ranked 1st-8th qualified two athletes and 9th-17th qualified one athlete. The UCI Olympic Qualification Ranking period lasted from May 25th 2014 to May 24th 2016.

The men’s rankings were topped by Switzerland whom finished with 9877 points. Also earning three athlete quotas was France, Spain, Czech Republic and Italy. The nations which earned two athlete quotas are; Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Portugal, South Africa and Brazil. The nations which earned one athlete quota are; Austria, Slovakia, United States, Argentina, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Israel and Japan.

With the release of the rankings there are also some reallocations to be done. First the host quota has been reallocated to the next highest ranked nation, Hungary. Also since Brazil, South Africa, Japan, Australia and New Zealand all qualified through the rankings their spot won at the continental qualifiers are reallocated to the next highest ranked nation at that qualifier meaning Costa Rica, Rwanda and Hong Kong are qualified. However, since no other Oceania nation competed at the continental qualifier the next level of reallocation is through the Olympic Rankings of teams from the same continent meaning Guam has qualified. Since no other Oceania nation is ranked in the Olympic Rankings the quota has been reallocated to the next highest ranked nation overall in the Olympic Rankings, specifically Russia.

The women’s ranking was also topped by Switzerland whom finished with a total of 8614 points. Also earning two athlete quotas was Germany, Canada, France, United States, Slovenia, Poland and Ukraine. The nations which earned one athlete quota are; Russia, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Brazil, Italy, Australia, Sweden and Serbia.

Like with the men’s rankings there are a couple of reallocations. Since Brazil qualified through the rankings the host quota was reallocated to the next highest ranked nation, Czech Republic. Also since Australia qualified through the rankings their spot won at the continental qualifiers was reallocated to the next highest ranked nation from that qualifier, New Zealand.

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify to the Olympics in mountain biking. There is still the possibility for reallocation as some nations may decline some or all of their quotas. We should know one way or another over the coming weeks.

 

Quotas by Nations

• France – 5
• Switzerland – 5
• Canada – 4
• Czech Republic – 4
• Germany – 4
• Italy – 4
• Australia – 3
• Belgium – 3
• Brazil – 3
• Spain – 3
• United States – 3
• Denmark – 2
• Netherlands – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• Poland – 2
• Portugal – 2
• Russia – 2
• Slovenia – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Sweden – 2
• Ukraine – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Austria – 1
• Costa Rica – 1
• Greece – 1
• Guam – 1
• Hong Kong – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Israel – 1
• Japan – 1
• Norway – 1
• Rwanda – 1
• Serbia – 1
• Slovakia – 1

 

References

• UCI. Mountain Biking Rankings. Access on May 25 2016.

Rowing: Qualification Concludes With European and Final Regatta

In total 24 nations qualified boats at the 2016 European and Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. The regatta was split into two qualification tournaments. The European portion which includes entries from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States had Olympic qualification for the top three boats in the single sculls and the top two boats in the lightweight double sculls. Like the other continental qualifiers a nation can only qualify one boat per gender. The final regatta portion contained the other 10 events where any nation can qualify. In total two boat quotas were available in the double sculls, quadruple sculls, eights, men’s pairs, men’s fours and men’s lightweight fours while four boat quotas were available in the women’s pairs. The European and Final Olympic Qualification Regatta was held in Lucerne, Switzerland from May 22nd to May 24th 2016.

In the European Regatta an extra boat quota was made available in the women’s single sculls due to a returned quota from the tripartite commission. The women’s single sculls was won by New Zealand’s Emma Twigg whom finished with a time of 7:21.870. Also joining her to the Olympics were boats from Ireland, Belarus and Denmark. The women’s lightweight doubles sculls was won by the Netherlands with a time of 6:54.910. Joining them was the silver medal boat from Romania.

On the men’s side the single sculls was won by Belgium’s Hannes Obreno whom won gold with a time of 6:47.610. Also qualifying to the Olympics were boats from Australia and Hungary. Belgium also won the men’s lightweight double sculls with a time of 6:21.780 while Turkey won the silver medal. Since a nation can only qualify one boat per gender at the continental qualifier this meant Belgium will have to pick between the men’s single sculls and lightweight double sculls. The non-selected boat will be reallocated to the next best boat here which will be Denmark regardless of choice.

At the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta Spain won the women’s pairs event with a time of 7:10.160. Joining them to the Olympics will be China, Italy and Poland. The women’s double sculls had the Czech Republic defeating Denmark with a time of 6:56.690. The women’s quadruple sculls was won by China whom finished 1.67 seconds ahead of the silver medalists from the Ukraine finishing with a time of 6:19.000. Romania won the women’s eights with a time of 6:02.560 while the Netherlands also qualified to the Olympics, finishing with the silver medal.

Among the men’s boats the Czech Republic won the men’s pairs with a time of 6:29.820 while Hungary also qualified by winning the silver medal. The men’s double sculls was won by Norway whom won by almost 2 seconds against Serbia, finishing with a time of 6:16.130. Similarly South Africa won the men’s fours by almost 2 seconds, winning against France with a time of 5:55.220. The men’s quadruple sculls was won by Russia whom defeated Canada with a time of 5:42.130. Russia was also able to win the men’s lightweight four by defeating Germany with a time of 6:02.970. The men’s eights had a three-way race for almost the entire race, but with only two Olympic quotas available Italy was the odd nation out as the United States won the gold over Poland with a time of 5:29.160.

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify in rowing and with the exception of Belgium’s choice between the men’s single sculls and lightweight double sculls all of the boats competing are now known. In total 68 nations will be competing in rowing.

 

Boats by Nations

• Belgium – 2*
• China – 2
• Denmark – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Netherlands – 2
• Poland – 2
• Romania – 2
• Russia – 2
• Australia – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Canada – 1
• France – 1
• Germany – 1
• Ireland – 1
• Italy – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• Norway – 1
• Serbia – 1
• South Africa – 1
• Spain – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Ukraine – 1
• United States – 1

* Must choose one boat

 

Athlete Quotas by Nations

• Netherlands – 11
• Poland – 11
• Romania – 11
• United States – 9
• Russia – 8
• China – 6
• Canada – 4
• Czech Republic – 4
• France – 4
• Germany – 4
• South Africa – 4
• Ukraine – 4
• Belgium – 3*
• Denmark – 3
• Hungary – 3
• Italy – 2
• Norway – 2
• Serbia – 2
• Spain – 2
• Turkey – 2
• Australia – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Ireland – 1
• New Zealand – 1

* Will either be 1 or 2 athlete quotas depending on boat choice

 

References

• WorldRowing. 2016 FISA European and Final Olympic Qualification Regatta Schedule and Results. Access on May 24 2016.

Triathlon: Qualified Nations List Released

The International Triathlon Union has published its Olympic Qualification List filling out the qualified nations through the Olympic Rankings, Olympic Points List and tripartite nations. The Olympic Rankings and Olympic Points List consisted of approved events including World Championship, Continental Championship and other world events. The top eight nations were allowed to qualify three athletes per gender through the Olympic rankings including the quotas obtained through the continental qualifiers and world qualification event. All other nations were allowed to qualify a maximum of two. Originally the top 39 eligible athletes from the Olympic Rankings qualified their nation to the Olympics, however, reallocations has increased that number. The Olympic Points List gave one quota to each of the five continents to athletes whose nations have yet to qualify in triathlon, provided that they met the minimum ranking of 140. For the tripartite commission, two men’s and two women’s quotas were available to athletes from nations whom have qualified an average of 8 or less athletes from individual events over the past two Olympics. They too had to meet the minimum ranking requirements. The Olympic Rankings and Olympic Points List were created using results from various events from May 15th 2014 to May 15th 2016.

In the men’s race a total of 23 nations qualified through the Olympic Rankings. They include Argentina (2), Australia (2), Azerbaijan, Belgium (2), Brazil, Canada (2), Costa Rica, Denmark, France (2), Germany (2), Great Britain (2), Hungary, Ireland, Italy (2), Mexico, Norway, New Zealand (2), Portugal (2), Russia (3), Slovakia, Spain (2), Switzerland and the United States (3). Since Brazil was among the qualified nations its host quota has been reallocated to Israel. Only one tripartite quota was awarded to Jordan which meant the other quota place was reallocated to Mexico. The Olympic Points List gave quotas to Austria, Barbados and China. Since there were no eligible nations in Africa and Oceania the quotas were reallocated to Hungary and Portugal.

In the women’s race a total of 25 nations qualified through the Olympic Rankings. They include Australia (2), Austria (2), Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada (2), Czech Republic, France, Germany (3), Great Britain, Hungary (2), Ireland, Italy (2), Japan (2), Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand (3), Poland, Russia (2), Slovenia, South Africa, Spain (3), Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States (2). Since Brazil was among the qualified nations its host quota has been reallocated to the Netherlands. No tripartite quota was awarded in the women’s race meaning the quotas have been reallocated to Belgium and Sweden. The Olympic Points List gave quotas to China, Ecuador, Estonia and Mauritius. Since there were no eligible nations in Oceania the quota was reallocated to Canada.

Overall the eight nations which will send three athletes in the men’s race are Australia, France, Great Britain, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United States. For the women the nations are Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and the United States. As a reminder this is a provisional list and is subjected to the approval of nations so there is the potential for reallocation.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Canada – 5
• Germany – 5
• New Zealand – 5
• Russia – 5
• Spain – 5
• United States – 5
• Australia – 4
• Belgium – 4
• Hungary – 4
• Italy – 4
• Austria – 3
• France – 3
• Great Britain – 3
• Mexico – 3
• Portugal – 3
• Switzerland – 3
• Argentina – 2
• Brazil – 2
• China – 2
• Ireland – 2
• Japan – 2
• Netherlands – 2
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Barbados – 1
• Bermuda – 1
• Costa Rica – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Denmark – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Estonia – 1
• Israel – 1
• Jordan – 1
• Mauritius – 1
• Norway – 1
• Poland – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• South Africa – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Ukraine – 1

 

References

• ITU. Rio 2016 Olympic Male Qualification. Access on May 18 2016.
• ITU. Rio 2016 Olympic Female Qualification. Access on May 18 2016.

Badminton: Olympic Qualification Rankings Released

With the final update of the Olympic Badminton Rankings the initial lists of qualified athletes have been announced. The Olympic Badminton Rankings included tournaments such as the World Championships, Continental Championships, Grand Prixes and others. The ranking period for the Olympic Badminton Rankings were from May 5th 2015 to May 1st 2016.

The top 34 athletes in the single rankings qualified to the Olympics. However, there is a maximum of two athletes per nation if both athletes are in the top 16 in the overall rankings. If not the maximum quota for each nation is one. Also all five continents must be represented with the highest ranking athlete from the continent automatically qualifying. The tripartite quotas also count towards the continental representation.

For the doubles rankings the top 16 teams qualified to the Olympics. Similarly, there is a maximum of two teams per nation if both teams are in the top 8 in the overall rankings. If not the maximum quota for each nation is one team. Also all continents that have at least one team in the top 50 will be granted a spot to the Olympics.

Overall China qualified the most quotas, winning the maximum of two entrants in all five events. In addition Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and the United States have at least one qualified entrant in all five events. In total, 41 nations have qualified at least one athlete.

There have been some reallocations due to the same athlete competing in two events. For the men China’s Zhang Nan, Germany’s Michael Fuchs and United States’ Phillip Chew have qualified in both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles. Brazil also qualified through the men’s singles releasing its host quota. These quotas will be reallocated to the men’s singles benefitting Portugal’s Pedro Martins, Austria’s David Obernorsterer, Canada’s Martin Giuffre and Czech Republic’s Petr Koukal.

Similarly China’s Zhao Yunlei, Denmark’s Christinna Pedersen and Netherlands’ Selena Piek qualified both in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles. These extra quotas will be reallocated to the women’s singles benefitting Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet, Ireland’s Chloe Magee and Portugal’s Telma Santos.

Also Australia will have to give up two of its continental quotas due to the rule allowing a nation to only benefit from a maximum of two continental quotas. The quotas will be reallocated to the next best eligible nation from Oceania first. If there are no eligible nations it will be reallocated to the next best ranked eligible nation regardless of continent.

Confirmation of quotas and tripartite invitations still remain so there will be a few changes between now and at the beginning of the Olympics, but for the most part the majority of athletes here will compete at the Olympics.

 

Quotas by Nations

• China – 10
• South Korea – 9
• Denmark – 6
• Indonesia – 6
• Japan – 6
• Germany – 5
• Great Britain – 5
• Hong Kong – 5
• India – 5
• Malaysia – 5
• Thailand – 5
• United States – 5
• Australia – 4
• Poland – 3
• Russia – 3
• Chinese Taipei – 3
• Austria – 2
• Belgium – 2
• Bulgaria – 2
• Canada – 2
• Czech Republic – 2
• France – 2
• Ireland – 2
• Netherlands – 2
• Portugal – 2
• Singapore – 2
• Spain – 2
• Ukraine – 2
• Vietnam – 2
• Cuba – 1
• Estonia – 1
• Finland – 1
• Guatemala – 1
• Israel – 1
• Italy – 1
• Mauritius – 1
• South Africa – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Switzerland – 1
• Turkey – 1

 

References

• BWF. Race to Rio – BWF Olympic Qualification. Access on May 7 2016.

Table Tennis: 13 Nations Qualify After European Qualfiers

Germany, Portugal and Sweden led ten other nations at the 2016 European Table Tennis Olympic Qualification Tournament. There were two opportunities for athletes to qualify. First a group stage and eight single elimination brackets were constructed with the winner from each of the brackets qualifying to the Olympics. The second opportunity had eligible athletes divided into two single elimination brackets where the winner from each bracket qualifying to the Olympics. The European Table Tennis Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Halmstad, Sweden from April 12th to April 16th 2016.

The women’s brackets saw relatively few upsets as six out of the eight top seeds ended up winning the bracket. The two upsets were from Group E where Netherlands’ Jie Li lost to Romania’s Daniela Monterio Dodean 4-1 who them proceeded to lose to Portugal’s Fu Yu 4-1 in the final. The other upset happened in Group G where top seed Elizabeta Samaro from Romania lost to Serbia’s Gabriela Feher 4-0 who then proceeded to lose to Russia’s Polina Mikhailova 4-1.

The other female qualifiers were Germany’s Ying Han, Germany’s Petrissa Solja, Turkey’s Melek Hu, Poland’s Qian Li and Austra’s Jia Liu. Germany’s Xiaona Shan won Group C, however, a nation can only qualify two athletes and since she’s the lowest ranked out of the three Germans she does not qualify to the Olympics. The Olympic quota will be reallocated to the second stage for a total of three available quotas.

For the second stage on the Red Draw both Netherlands’ Jie Li and Sweden’s Matilda Ekholm reached the final in narrow 4-3 wins over Serbia’s Ana Maria Erdelji and Hungary’s Georgina Pota respectively. The final was won by Jie Li in another narrow 4-3 victory. The final of the Blue Draw was between Ukraine’s Tetyana Bilenko and Sweden’s Fen Li. Li won the match and Olympic quota 4-0. The final quota was left between the two final losers. Ekholm won the match over Bilenko 4-0 to book her spot to the Olympics.

The men’s first stage contained quite a few upsets with only four out of the eight top seeds qualifying to the Olympics. The top seeds which qualified were Germany’s Timo Boll, Portugal’s Marcos Freitas, Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia and Russia’s Alexander Shibaev.

The largest upset came in Group H where Slovenia’s Bojan Tokic upset Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson in the first round on route to winning a quota. Sweden would still qualify with Par Gerwell defeating Great Britain’s Paul Drinkhall 4-1 in Group G. Another upset occurred in the final match of Group A where Greece’s Panagiotis Gionis defeated World number 8 Vladimir Samsonov 4-1 to qualify to the Olympics. While Germany’s Bastian Steger won Group D over Croatia’s Andrej Gacina in a 4-2 match he did not qualify to the Olympics. A nation can only qualify a maximum of two athletes in the individual event and with three qualified athletes it means that the lowest ranked athlete, Steger will not be given a quota. The Olympic quota will be reallocated to the second stage for a total of three available quotas.

For the second stage, in the Red Draw the final match was between France’s Emmanuel Lebesson and Ukraine’s Lei Kou. In a match which saw multiple set lead changes it was Lebesson whom won the match 4-3. The final of the Blue Draw saw Denmark’s Jonathan Groth take a 3-0 lead before France’s Simon Gauzy performed a comeback to force a seventh set. Groth was able to compose himself to win the final set 11-3. The final quota was left between the two final losers. Kou won the match over Gauzy 4-2 to book his spot to the Olympics.

Athletes from Europe will have one more opportunity to qualify to the Olympics, through the World Rankings which will be published in the coming weeks.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Germany – 3
• Portugal – 3
• Sweden – 3
• Russia – 2
• Austria – 1
• Denmark – 1
• France – 1
• Greece – 1
• Netherlands – 1
• Poland – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Ukraine – 1

 

References

• ITTF. 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Qualification Tournament. Access on April 16 2016.

Handball: Final Men’s Teams Decided at Final Olympic Tournaments

The final men’s handball teams were decided at one of three 2016 Men’s Handball Final Olympic Qualification Tournaments. Three tournaments with four nations each were held concurrently where a round robin was held. The top two teams in each tournament qualified to the Olympics. The Men’s Handball Final Olympic Tournaments were held from April 8th to April 10th 2016 in Sopot, Poland, Malmo, Sweden and Herning, Denmark respectively.

Tunisia grabbed the first victory over Chile in the first tournament, winning 35-29. Likewise Poland defeated Macedonia 25-20. In the second group of matches Tunisia went up 17-10 by half-time against Macedonia and was able to win the match 32-26. With Poland’s 35-27 victory over Chile both nations qualified to the Olympics with a game to spare. Poland would go on to win the tournament by defeating Tunisia 28-24. Macedonia finished in third by defeating Chile 30-27.

In the second tournament Spain began well against Slovenia, taking a 16-12 lead going into the second half. However, a collapse gave Slovenia a 12-5 run and the 24-21 victory. Sweden won its first match against Iran, defeating them 34-19. Spain didn’t repeat the same mistake in the second match as they decisively defeated Iran 37-23. In the other match Sweden took a narrow lead over Slovenia and while Slovenia caught up to Sweden many times they were unable to take the lead. A final minute goal gave Sweden the narrow 24-23 victory over Slovenia. The final match between Sweden and Spain was close with neither team holding more than a 4 goal lead. Spain ended up winning the match 25-23, but the final minute goal for Sweden would go on to prove to be a difference maker. Slovenia won its match against Iran 33-17 setting up a three-way tie between Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. The tie-breaker was the goal difference between the teams in question meaning Slovenia won the tournament with a +2 goal differential. However, Spain and Sweden were still tied at -1 goal difference. The next criteria was the number of goals scored between the tied teams meaning Sweden finished in second due to scoring 47 goals to Spain’s 46.

The third tournament had Norway finding it difficult separating itself from Bahrain. The second half proved to be much better for Norway as they pulled away to win 35-29. The match between Denmark and Croatia was fairly close and it included a four goal comeback attempt by Croatia late in the second half. Denmark was able to prevent the comeback and placed some distance between the two teams winning the match 28-24. Similarly to Norway Croatia also struggled to pull away from Bahrain as the match was tied 14-14 by the end of the first half. Likewise the second half opened up as Croatia would go on to win relatively easily 33-22. The match between Denmark and Norway was fairly close with neither team getting a lead of more than 4. In a tense final minute no team was able to score as the two teams ended in a 25-25 draw. A strong first half for Croatia in the final match was all that was needed to defeat Norway 27-21 to book its spot to the Olympics. Denmark grabbed the second quota in a narrow26-24 win over Bahrain as they won the overall tournament.

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify in what will be a very competitive tournament of handball.

 

Tournament 1 Rankings

1. Poland
2. Tunisia
3. Macedonia
4. Chile

 

Tournament 2 Rankings

1. Slovenia
2. Sweden
3. Spain
4. Iran

 

Tournament 3 Rankings

1. Denmark
2. Croatia
3. Norway
4. Bahrain

 

References

• IHF. Men’s Olympic Games Qualification Tournament 2016, POL. Access on April 10 2016.
• IHF. Men’s Olympic Games Qualification Tournament 2016, SWE. Access on April 10 2016.
• IHF. Men’s Olympic Games Qualification Tournament 2016, DEN. Access on April 10 2016.