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.

Athletics: Relay Nations Qualified By Aggregate Times Revealed

The final relays in athletics have been revealed by the IAAF. Of the nations which have yet to qualify, they are ranked by the aggregate times of their best two performances over the qualification period. The top eight nations from each relay event qualify to the Olympics. The relay times can only be performed in approved events ranging from May 1st 2015 to June 11th 2016.

For the men’s relays the nations which qualified in the 4x100m are China, Canada, Antigua and Barbuda, Great Britain, Netherlands, Turkey, Dominican Republic and Cuba. The nations which qualified in the 4x400m are Cuba, France, Russia, Dominican Republic, Poland, Colombia, India and Venezuela.

For the women’s relays the nations which qualified in the 4x100m are Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, France and Ghana. The nations which qualified in the 4x400m are Nigeria, Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, India, Romania and Netherlands.

While Russia is listed in the rankings their participation is conditional on the CAS ruling. Should Russia remain banned in athletics the relays will be reallocated to the next highest ranked nation, specifically Japan (men’s 4x400m), Poland (women’s 4x100m) and Bahamas (women’s 4x400m).

 

Quotas by Nations

• Netherlands – 3
• Russia – 3
• China – 2
• Cuba – 2
• Dominican Republic – 2
• France – 2
• Germany – 2
• India – 2
• Ukraine -2
• Antigua and Barbuda – 1
• Canada – 1
• Colombia – 1
• Ghana – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• Italy – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1
• Nigeria – 1
• Poland – 1
• Romania – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Venezuela – 1

 

References

• IAAF. Best Relay Performances (updated as at 11 July 2016). Access on July 13 2016.

Boxing: Professional Athletes Qualified at APB/WSB Qualifier

The final qualification quotas were decided at the 2016 APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Event. At this tournament boxers from AIBA Pro Boxing and World Series of Boxing are allowed to compete. In addition, with the late ruling allowing full professional boxers to compete this will be the only opportunity for them to qualify to the Olympics. In total the highest ranked boxers from the men’s heavyweight and super heavyweight qualified to the Olympics while for the other eight weight classes the top three athletes qualified to the Olympics. The APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Event was held in Vargas, Venezuela from July 3rd to July 8th 2016.

The late rule change to allow all professional boxers was met with some controversy with some nations declaring it was unfair to change the rules this late with some nations refusing to allow professionals to compete even if they had space on the team. Pro boxing organisations also threatened suspensions for athletes whom choose to compete in the Olympics. In the end only a small group of professionals actually competed. Two of the most prominent pros which qualified were Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng in the men’s lightweight (-60kg) and Cameroon’s Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam in the men’s light heavyweight (-81kg). Both actually lost their final match with Mexico’s Lindolfo Delgado defeating Ruenroeng and Colombia’s Juan Carlos Carrillo defeating N’Jikam. Also qualifying in those weights were Italy’s Carmine Tommasone (-60kg) and Ukraine’s Denys Soloneko (-81kg).

Mexico was the top performing nation, winning three gold medals. Along with Delgado, Joselito Velazquez defeated Ecuador’s Carlos Quipo in the men’s light flyweight (-49kg) and Juan Pablo Romero won in a walkover against Germany’s Arajik Marutjan in the men’s welterweight (-69kg). Also qualifying were Argentina’s Leandro Blanc in the light flyweight and Spain’s Youba Sissokho in the welterweight.

While Mexico won the most gold medals Venezuela qualified the most athletes, with four in total. Overall they won two events; Yoel Finol Rivas defeated Germany’s Hamza Touba in the men’s flyweight (-52kg), Colombia’s Ceiber Avila finished third and Edgar Munoz won the only available spot in the men’s super heavyweight (+91kg) with his win over Ukraine’s Rostyslav Arkhypenko. Also qualifying for Venezuela was Endry Jose Pinto whom lost to Ecuador’s Marlo Delgado in the men’s middleweight (-75kg), Turkey’s Onder Sipal won the third quota and Victor Rodriguez grabbed the third quota in the men’s bantamweight (-56kg). The winner of that event was Kenya’s Benson Gicharu whom won in a walkover against Dominican Republic’s Hector Garcia.

 

In the men’s light welterweight (-64kg) Armenia’s Hovhannes won in a technical knock-out over Qatar’s Thulasi Tharumalingam. The third quota for that event went to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Matviychuk whom won in a walk-over against Argentina’s Carlos Daniel Aquino. The lone quota in the men’s heavyweight (-91kg) went to Ecuador’s Julio Cesar Castillo whom defeated Croatia’s Marko Calic in the final.

 

This was the final opportunity for athletes to qualify in boxing. All that is remaining is for the nations to confirm the quotas and for the tripartite commission to announce the remaining tripartite quotas.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Venezuela – 4
• Ecuador – 3
• Mexico – 3
• Colombia – 2
• Germany – 2
• Ukraine – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Armenia – 1
• Cameroon – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Italy – 1
• Kenya – 1
• Qatar – 1
• Spain – 1
• Thailand – 1
• Turkey – 1

 

References

• AIBA. APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Event. Access on July 8 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.

Weightlifting: Canada and Cuba Qualify in Both Genders At Pan American Championship

Canada and Cuba topped their respective team Olympic rankings at the 2016 Pan American Weightlifting Championship. The team Olympic rankings are constructed from points obtained from the top six men or top four women out of the nations which have not already qualified. The top seven men’s teams and the top four women’s teams qualify one athlete each. The Pan American Weightlifting Championship was held in Cartagena, Colombia from June 6th to June 11th 2016.

Canada was the top nation in the women’s events where they accumulated 109 points. They were followed by Puerto Rico whom finished with 103 points. Being anchored by gold medal winner Maria Valdes in the women’s -75kg Chile finished in third with 101 points while Cuba grabbed the final quota as they finished with 97 points.

One of the biggest shocks of the championship came in the men’s events where regional powerhouse Venezuela had their first three lifters fail to finish their event, leaving only five athletes left to compete. Overall Cuba topped the Olympic rankings, finishing with a total of 148 points. Ecuador finished in second with 143 points while Mexico and the United States finished equal at 141 points. Dominican Republic and Peru also qualified to the Olympics with 129 and 126 points respectively. Despite having only five remaining lifters Venezuela was still in a position to qualify going into the final event. Canada however, spoiled the unlikely achievement by doing just enough to win the final Olympic quota, finishing with a total of 118 points, just 1 point ahead of Venezuela.

This was the final continental qualifier in weightlifting. Unqualified nations can still qualify through the individual rankings where the cut-off will occur in the coming weeks. Also left to decide are the tripartite quotas.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Canada – 2
• Cuba – 2
• Chile – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Mexico – 1
• Peru – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• United States – 1

 

References

• IWF. Pan American Weightlifting Championship Results. Access on June 11 2016.

Judo: Olympic Rankings Published 113 Nations Qualify

113 nations qualified through the Judo Olympic Rankings. Athletes earned points through various world and continental events over a two year period. There were two methods of qualifying. First the top 22 men and top 14 women qualify with a maximum of one NOC per weight class. Second are the continental qualifiers. The highest ranked, not yet qualified athletes across all events can qualify. Each continent has a set amount of quotas; Africa 24 (14 men, 10 women), Europe 25 (14 men, 11 women), Asia 20 (12 men, 8 women), Oceania 10 (7 men, 3 women), and Pan America 21 (13 men, 8 women). A nation can only earn one spot across all events through this and a single continent can qualify a maximum of two athletes in a single event. The qualification period lasted from May 30th 2014 to May 29th 2016.

In total 113 nations have qualified with France and Japan joining hosts Brazil as being the only nation to have qualified a full team of men and women. Also qualifying a full men’s team are Georgia, Germany, Mongolia, Russia, South Korea and Uzbekistan. Overall 53 nations only qualified through the continental rankings while 14 nations did not receive a continental quota. Oceania did not allocate all 10 of its continental quotas thus the unused quota was reallocated to the athlete with the most points and is not yet qualified among all events, specifically Uzbekistan’s Soyib Kurbonov in the men’s -100kg.

The quotas are tied to the athletes by name with the exception of where multiple athletes from the same nation finished in the top 22 for men and top 14 for women where the nation can choose from among them. All that is left to determine in judo is the tripartite quotas.

 

Quotas by Nations

• France – 14
• Japan – 14
• Germany – 13
• Mongolia – 13
• South Korea – 12
• Netherlands – 11
• Russia – 11
• Cuba – 9
• Canada – 8
• China – 8
• Georgia – 8
• Hungary – 8
• Uzbekistan – 8
• Australia – 7
• Great Britain – 7
• Israel – 7
• Ukraine – 7
• Azerbaijan – 6
• Portugal – 6
• United States – 6
• Algeria – 5
• Austria – 5
• Belgium – 5
• Egypt – 5
• Italy – 5
• Kazakhstan – 5
• Slovenia – 5
• Spain – 5
• Poland – 4
• Romania – 4
• Sweden – 4
• Tunisia – 4
• Turkey – 4
• Czech Republic – 3
• Ecuador – 3
• Iran – 3
• Morocco – 3
• North Korea – 3
• Switzerland – 3
• United Arab Emirates – 3
• Argentina – 2
• Belarus – 2
• Bulgaria – 2
• Chinese Taipei – 2
• Colombia – 2
• Gabon – 2
• Greece – 2
• Kosovo – 2
• Kyrgyzstan – 2
• Latvia – 2
• Mexico – 2
• Puerto Rico – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Tajikistan – 2
• Turkmenistan – 2
• American Samoa – 1
• Angola – 1
• Armenia – 1
• Aruba – 1
• Benin – 1
• Bolivia – 1
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1
• Burkina Faso – 1
• Cameroon – 1
• Chile – 1
• Congo – 1
• Costa Rica – 1
• Côte d’Ivoire – 1
• Croatia – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• El Salvador – 1
• Estonia – 1
• Fiji – 1
• Finland – 1
• Gambia – 1
• Ghana – 1
• Guatemala – 1
• Guinea-Bissau – 1
• Haiti – 1
• Honduras – 1
• Iceland – 1
• India – 1
• Iraq – 1
• Jordan – 1
• Kenya – 1
• Lebanon – 1
• Libya – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Madagascar – 1
• Mali – 1
• Mauritius – 1
• Moldova – 1
• Mozambique – 1
• Nauru – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• Niger – 1
• Pakistan – 1
• Palau – 1
• Papua New Guinea – 1
• Peru – 1
• Qatar – 1
• Samoa – 1
• Saudi Arabia – 1
• Senegal – 1
• Serbia – 1
• Seychelles – 1
• Thailand – 1
• Trinidad and Tobago – 1
• Uruguay – 1
• Vanuatu – 1
• Venezuela – 1
• Vietnam – 1
• Zambia – 1

 

References

• IJF. Judo Base Olympic Quotas by Nations. Access on June 4 2016.
• IJF. Judo Base Men’s Olympic Rankings. Access on June 4 2016.
• IJF. Judo Base Women’s Olympic Rankings. Access on June 4 2016.

Archery: Six Nations Qualify After American Qualification Tournament

Six nations qualified athletes after the Archery American Continental Qualification Tournament. The top three archers in each gender qualify their nation to the Olympics. A nation can qualify a maximum of a single quota for each gender. The event was held just before the World Cup event in Medellin, Columbia from May 8th to May 9th 2016.

In the women’s recurve it was Venezuela’s Leidys Brito who led all athletes after the ranking round with Canada’s Georcy-Stephanie Thiffeault Picard finishing second. Brito would go on reach the final with a pair of 6-0 wins while Thiffeault Picard lost in a tie-break to Venezuela’s Mayra Mendez in the semi-final. Since Venezuela can only qualify one athlete this meant Canada also automatically booked a spot to the Olympics. The third Olympic spot was considered to be an upset where 12 seeded (out of 14) Yessica Camilo of the Dominican Republic defeated Guatemala’s Esmeralda Valencia Sanchez 6-2 and won a tie-breaker against Cuba’s Elizabeth Rodriguez to win the Dominican Republic’s first quota in archery. Brito won the event by winning a tie-breaker against Mendez while Thiffeault Picard won the bronze medal.

Mexico was the top nation in the men’s recurve ranking round as Juan Serrano and Ernesto Boardman took the top two spots respectively while Luis Alvarez finished in fifth. The three would all go to reach the semi-final and actually sweep the medals with Boardman defeating Serrano in the final. The largest upset occurred in the second round where Argentina’s Ignacio Escalante defeated third seed Juan Carlos Stevens 6-4. Unfortunately Escalante failed to grab the quota as El Salvador’s Oscar Ticas subsequently defeated him to reach the semi-final. The third Olympic quota went to fifth place finisher Guillermo Aguilar Gimpel of Chile.

Non-qualified nations can still have one more opportunity to qualify to the Olympics at the final qualification tournament to be held during the Antalya World Cup event. Nations will also be able to upgrade their individual qualification to a team qualification at the event.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Canada – 1
• Chile – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• El Salvador – 1
• Mexico – 1
• Venezuela – 1

 

References

• Ianseo. World Archery Americas CQT – Results. Access on May 10 2016.

Fencing: 5 Nations Qualify After American Zonal Tournament

Five nations wrapped up qualification for fencing at the conclusion of the 2016 American Fencing Olympic Zonal Tournament. The format had a group stage used to determine seeds where a single elimination tournament followed. For individual events with a team event (men’s epee, men’s foil, women’s epee, women’s sabre) the top ranked athlete qualified to the Olympics. For individual events without a team event (men’s sabre, women’s foil) the top two athletes qualified to the Olympics. The American Fencing Olympic Zonal Tournament was held in San Jose, Costa Rica from April 15th to April 17th.

While the results have yet to be published by FIE the Olympic qualifiers have. Mexico was the big winner as they qualified in three events; Alejandra Teran in women’s epee, Nataly Michel in women’s foil and Julian Ayala in men’s sabre. Overall Mexico will be competing in five out of the six individual events plus the women’s sabre team. Also qualifying multiple athletes is Venezuela where Antonio Leal qualified in the men’s foil and Isis Gimenez qualified in the women’s foil. Also qualifying to the Olympics are Colombia’s John Rodriguez in men’s epee, Cuba’s Yoandry Galvez in men’s sabre and Dominican Republic’s Rossy Felix in women’s sabre.

This was the final opportunity for athletes to qualify in fencing. Brazil still has eight host quotas in which it can distribute to any event, provided that they do not exceed the maximum quota for a nation.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Mexico – 3
• Venezuela – 2
• Colombia – 1
• Cuba – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1

 

References

• FIE. Rio Loves Fencing. Access on April 19 2016.

Boxing: 13 American Nations Qualify After Continental Qualifier

13 nations qualified athletes at the 2016 American Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament. In the men’s events the top two in the light flyweight, flyweight, bantamweight, light welterweight and light heavyweight and the top three in the lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, heavyweight and super heavyweight qualified to the Olympics. For the women’s events the top lightweight and top two flyweight and middleweight qualified to the Olympics. The differences in quotas are due to the subtraction caused by Brazil using a host quota. The American Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from March 11th to March 19th 2016.

Overall 33 nations compete in 10 men’s and 3 women’s weight classes. The first day of finals saw the results of six men’s events. 2015 world silver medalist Erislandy Savon of Cuba won the men’s heavyweight (-91kg) over Argentina’s Yamil Peralta. Brazil won the third quota by winning a box-off. Argentina also qualified by winning the men’s flyweight (-52kg) over Dominican Republic’s Leonel De Los Santos. Both Colombia and the United States qualified in the men’s light flyweight and (-49kg) and middleweight (-75kg) as the two nations split the events respectively. Mexico also qualified in the middleweight class. Canada’s 2015 Pan American gold medalist Arthur Biyarslanov won in the men’s light welterweight as he defeated Venezuela’s Luis Arcon. Venezuela also qualified in a second event by finishing runner-up to Ecuador’s Carlos Mina in the men’s light heavyweight (-81kg).

In the women’s events 2015 Pan American gold medalist Mandy Bujold defeated Colombia’s Ingrit Valencia in the women’s flyweight (-51kg) as both qualified to the Olympics. United States’ Mikaela Myers grabbed the only quota in the women’s lightweight (-60kg) as she defeated Mexico’s Victoria Torres in the final. 2012 Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields will get to defend her crown as she won the middleweight (-75kg) by defeating Canada’s Ariane Fortin, whom also qualified to the Olympics.

The second day of finals saw Cuba becoming the first nation to qualify in all ten of the men’s events as they won gold in the welterweight (-69kg) and in the super heavyweight (+91kg). Venezuela won the lightweight (-60kg) event by defeating Honduras in the final and also qualified in the welterweight. The other event, the bantamweight (-56kg) was won by the United States’ Shakur Stevenson whom defeated Argentina’s Alberto Melian. Argentina also did well on this day as they also qualified in the lightweight and welterweight. The other qualified nations were Trinidad and Tobago and US Virgin Islands, both qualified in the super heavyweight.

As a reminder the women’s world championship will have higher priority so if one of the above athletes qualified through that then the next highest ranked nation here would qualify. For the men, unqualified nations will still have a chance to qualify in two more events.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Argentina – 5
• United States – 5
• Venezuela – 4
• Cuba – 3
• Canada – 3
• Colombia – 3
• Brazil – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Honduras – 1
• Mexico – 1
• Trinidad and Tobago – 1
• US Virgin Islands – 1

 

References

• AIBA. 2016 American Olympic Qualification Tournament Results. Access on March 20 2016.

Taekwondo: Dominican Republic and United States Lead the Way in Pan Am Tournament

The Dominican Republic and the United States were among 11 nations to win quotas after the 2016 Pan American Taekwondo Qualification Tournament. The two finalists from each weight class qualify their nation to the Olympics. Nations are only allowed to enter two athletes per gender, provided that they have not qualified any athletes beforehand. The Pan American Taekwondo Qualification Tournament was held in Aguascalientes, Mexico from March 10th to March 11th 2016.

The largest upset of the first day occurred in the women’s -49kg where Canadian Yvette Yong lost 9-7 to Dominican Republic’s Candelaria Marte in the quarterfinals. Marte wouldn’t grab the Olympic quota as she would subsequently lose to Aruba’s Monica Pimentel 2-1. Pimentel will be the first athlete from Aruba to compete in taekwondo at the Olympics. The second quota went to Peru’s Julissa Canseco whom defeated Puerto Rico’s Victoria Stambaugh 4-3 in the semi-final. The tournament was won by Conseco as she defeated Marte 2-1.

In contrast the women’s -57kg went relatively expected as top seeds Carolena Carstens of Panama and Doris Patino of Colombia won their respective semi-final matches. They were made to work for their qualification as Carstens narrowly defeated Venezuela’s Adriana Matinez 1-0 while Patino required a referee’s decision to defeat Cuba’s Yamicel Nunez after the two tied 2-2. In the final Carstens easily defeated Patino 10-0 to win the tournament.

The first quota for the men’s -80kg was won by three time Olympic medalist Steven Lopez of the United States whom defeated Cuba’s Jose Cobas 4-3. Defending Olympic champion Sebastian Crismanich will however, not get to defend his Olympic gold medal as he fell to Dominican Republic’s Moises Hernandez 2-1 in a stunning semi-final. Lopez won the final match against Hernandez 3-0 to win the event.

The final event of the first day was the men’s +80kg. Top seed Rafael Castillo of Cuba easily qualified to the Olympics with a 13-5 win over Carlos Rivas of Venezuela. Stephen Lambdin won United States their second quota of the day with a 2-1 win over Canada’s Marc-Andre Bergeron. Castillo won the event due to the withdrawal of Lambdin.

On the second day it was 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and 2015 Pan American gold medalist Paige McPherson whom won the first quota place of the women’s -67kg as she defeated Argentina’s Alexis Arnoldt 3-2. The second quota was won by Canada’s Melissa Pagnotta whom defeated Colombia’s Katherine Dumar 5-3. McPherson won the event 4-3.

In the women’s +67kg Puerto Rico easily grabbed the first quota with a 6-0 win over Honduras’ Keyla Avila. The second quota saw a bit of an upset as 2013 World Champion Glenhis Hernandez of Cuba lost to Katherine Rodriguez of the Dominican Republic 3-1. Rodriguez won the event 2-1.

There was an upset in the quarter-finals of the men’s -58kg where Argentina’s Lucas Guzman lost to Ecuador’s Leyner Congo 8-4. Congo would subsequently lose in the next round to Colombia’s Oscar Munoz, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist 12-6 whom grabbed the Olympic quota. The second quota went to Luisito Pie of the Dominican Republic whom defeated Costa Rica’s Heiner Oviedo 9-1. Pie defeated Munoz 3-0 to win the tournament.

The first quota in the men’s -68kg went to Venezuela’s Edgar Contreras whom defeated Canada’s Maxime Potvin 6-3. The second quota went to Chile’s Ignacio Morales whom defeated Colombia’s Miguel Trejos 12-9. Contreras won the tournament after a withdrawal by Morales.

This was the final qualification opportunity for Pan American nations. Only one more continental qualification tournament remains before almost the entire field for taekwondo is decided.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Dominican Republic – 3
• United States – 3
• Colombia – 2
• Aruba – 1
• Canada – 1
• Chile – 1
• Cuba – 1
• Panama – 1
• Peru – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• Venezuela – 1

 

References

• WTF. Pan Am Qualification Tournament for the 2016 Games Results. Access on March 12 2016.