Diving: FINA Announces Participating Athletes

FINA has released the list of athletes which will compete in diving. The list also reveals the additional divers added to reach the maximum quota. Each gender had a maximum quota of 68 athletes for the individual and synchronized diving events. For every athlete which competed in the synchronized event, but not the individual event caused the individual event to have one fewer athlete competing relative to the maximum. In summary in the men’s 3m springboard 29 athletes will compete in the individual event and in the women’s 3m springboard and men’s and women’s 10m platform 28 athletes will compete in the individual event.

The next best ranked divers from the 2016 Diving World Cup were added to reach the aliquoted individual quota. This means for the men’s 3m springboard Germany and Austria gained an additional quota and for the men’s 10m platform Italy, Canada and Belarus gained quotas.

For the women’s events there were also declinations of quotas. For the women’s 3m springboard the Netherlands and South Africa declined a quota while Japan declined a quota it would have received through the reallocation process. Similarly in the women’s 10m platform Japan declined a quota while the Netherlands declined a quota it would have received through the reallocation process. Overall for the women’s 3m springboard Germany, United States, Colombia, Russia, Egypt, New Zealand and South Africa gained quotas to compete and in the women’s 10m platform Ukraine, Germany, Hungary, Brazil and Russia gained quotas.

There is still one female quota left unallocated, this was likely due to South Africa’s late rejection of one of their women’s 3m springboard quotas. It is likely the quota will eventually be filled by the next highest ranked athlete from the 2016 Diving World Cup, specifically Croatia.

Update: Croatia has received the quota in women’s 3m springboard.

 

New Quotas by Nations

• Germany – 3
• Russia – 2
• Austria – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Brazil – 1
• Canada – 1
• Colombia – 1
• Croatia – 1
• Egypt – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Italy – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• Ukraine – 1
• United States – 1
• Japan – -1
• Netherlands – -1

 

Overall Athletes by Nation

• China – 13
• Great Britain – 11
• United States – 10
• Australia – 9
• Brazil – 9
• Mexico – 9
• Germany – 8
• Italy – 8
• Russia – 8
• Canada – 7
• Ukraine – 7
• Malaysia – 6
• Colombia – 4
• Egypt – 4
• France – 3
• Japan – 3
• North Korea – 3
• Belarus – 2
• Venezuela – 2
• Austria – 1
• Croatia – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Ireland – 1
• Jamaica – 1
• Netherlands – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• South Africa – 1
• South Korea – 1

 

References

• FINA. RIO 2016 – DIVING – Participating Athletes. Access on July 5 2016.

Swimming: China Tops Marathon Swimming Olympic Qualifiers

China won gold in both events at the 2016 Marathon Swimming Olympic Qualifier. In each event the top 10 highest ranked athletes, with a maximum of one athlete per nation qualified to the Olympics. Similarly the highest ranked eligible athlete from each continent also qualified to the Olympics. The Marathon Swimming Olympic Qualifier was held in Setubal, Portugal from June 11th to June 12th 2016.

In the women’s 10km race it was China’s Yan Siyu whom led the pack for the first two laps. She would go on to lose the lead with Poland’s Joanna Zachoszcz leading at the end of the third lap and her compatriot Xin Xin leading in the fourth and fifth laps, but she remained within the lead group. Going into the sixth and final lap the lead group was numbered at about 10. During the final lap three swimmers; Xin Xin, Great Britain’s Keri-Anne Payne and Ecuador’s Samantha Arevalo broke away and had a sprint swim towards the finish line where Xin finished ahead of Payne with a time of 1:55:12.1, just 0.8 seconds ahead. Arevalo won the bronze medal.

The top 10 eligible swimmers which qualified to the Olympics were;  Xin Xin (China), Keri-Anne Payne (Great Britain), Samantha Arevalo (Ecuador), Chelsea Gubecka (Australia), Yumi Kida (Japan), Michelle Weber (South Africa), Joanna Zachoszcz (Poland), Paola Perez (Venezuela), Spela Perse (Slovenia) and Jana Pechanova (Czech Republic). The five continental qualifiers were Erika Villaecija (Spain), Stephanie Horner (Canada), Heidi Gan (Malaysia), Charlotte Webby (New Zealand) and Reem Kaseem (Egypt).

The men’s 10km race saw multiple lead changes and had a lead group of about 20 athletes going into the final lap. As the final lap progressed the number of athletes in the lead group dwindled, until only China’s Zu Lijun remained as he won the race with a time of 1:52:18.2. 2.2 second later Germany’s Christian Reichert won the silver while Ecuador’s Ivan Enderica Ochoa won the bronze.

The top 10 eligible swimmers which qualified to the Olympics were; Zu Lijun (China), Christian Reichert (Germany), Ivan Enderica Ochoa (Ecuador), Evgenii Drattcev (Russia), Ous Mellouli (Tunisia), Richard Nagy (Slovakia), Jarrod Poort (Australia), Yasunari Hirai (Japan), Chad Ho (South Africa) and Ventsislav Aydarski (Bulgaria). The five continental qualifiers were Mark Papp (Hungary), Erwin Maldonado (Venezuela), Kane Radford (New Zealand), Vitaliy Khudyakov (Kazakhstan) and Marwan Elamrawy (Egypt).

This was the final opportunity to qualify in marathon swimming. Swimmers can still attempt to qualify to the pool events by reaching the qualification times.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Australia – 2
• China – 2
• Ecuador – 2
• Egypt – 2
• Japan – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Venezuela – 2
• Bulgaria – 1
• Canada – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Germany – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1
• Malaysia – 1
• Poland – 1
• Russia – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• Spain – 1
• Tunisia – 1

 

References

• OmegaTiming. Marathon Swimming Olympic Games Qualification Tournament Results. Access on June 12 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.

Table Tennis: Team Quotas Confirmed However Singles Quota Rejected

All nations participating in the team events in table tennis have confirmed their spot with the third athlete being announced. However there has been one rejection in the women’s singles event. Ukraine’s Margaryta Pesotska’s quota has been rejected by her NOC. The quota has been reallocated to the next highest ranked eligible athlete in the Olympic rankings, specifically Hungary’s Petra Lovas. Hungary must confirm the quota for this to be finalized.

The third team members, which only compete in the team event are as follows, for the women; Yousra Abdelrazek (Egypt), Liu Shiwen (China), Xiaona Shan (Germany), Bruna Takahashi (Brazil), Jiaqi Zheng (United States), Ziyu Zhang (Australia), Mima Ito (Japan), Yihan Zhou (Singapore), Yana Tie (Hong Kong), Yang Haeun (South Korea), Huang Yi-Hua (Chinese Taipei), Ri Mi Gyong (North Korea), Britt Eerland (Netherlands), Bernadette Szocs (Romania), Natalia Partyka (Poland) and Qiangbing Li (Austria).

For the men’s team event the third members will be; Bode Abiodun (Nigeria), Xu Xin (China), Bastian Steger (Germany), Cazuo Matsumoto (Brazil), Timothy Wang (United States), Heming Hu (Australia), Maharu Yoshimura (Japan), Kwan Kit Ho (Hong Kong), Joao Monteiro (Portugal), Yoo Saehyuk (South Korea), Tristan Flore (France), Mattias Karlsson (Sweden), Daniel Habeson (Austria), Daniel Gorak (Poland), Chiang Hung-Chieh (Chinese Taipaei) and Samuel Walker (Great Britain).

 

References

• ITTF. Players Qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Access on June 3 2016.
• ITTF. Teams Qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Access on June 3 2016.

Modern Pentathlon: Athletes Qualify After Olympic Rankings Are Published

The International Modern Pentathlon Union has published the Olympic Qualification Rankings. Athletes are able to earn points in various competitions such as the World Championship, the World Cups and continental championships. Originally the top 6 men and women were supposed to qualify, but due to reallocations the top 8 men and top 10 women not yet qualified are qualified to the Olympics. As a reminder in modern pentathlon the athlete is directly qualified. If a nation has more than two athletes per gender qualified then they must select two from that list. The Olympic Qualification Rankings contain events starting on May 30th 2015 and ending on May 29th 2016.

For the men’s rankings world number one James Cooke of Great Britain leads the qualification list. Also qualified are Amro El Geziry (Egypt), Adam Marosi (Hungary), Omar El Geziry (Egypt), Maksim Kustov (Russia), Justinas Kinderis (Lithuania), Yasser Hefny (Egypt) and Guo Jian-Li (China). Since Egypt has three qualified athletes through the Olympic rankings (plus one through the African Championship) after selecting two athletes at least one will be reallocated through the Olympic rankings meaning Bence Demeter (Hungary) is guaranteed a spot.

For the women’s rankings the qualified athlete list is led by world number three Zsofia Foldhazi of Hungary.  Also qualifying are Annika Schleu (Germany), Claudia Cesarini (Italy), Anastasiya Prokopenko (Belarus), Ieva Serapinaite (Lithuania), Freyja Prentice (Great Britain), Gintare Venckauskaite (Lithuania), Iryna Khokhlova (Argentina), Melanie McCann (Canada) and Margaux Isaksen (United States).

Overall a few nations have more than two athletes in one event meaning they will have to choose two. Should the rejected quota come from a continental qualifier then the next best athlete from that event will be selected. In all other cases the reallocated quota will be through the Olympic Qualification Rankings. Also the tripartite quotas need to be announced, if things are similar to 2012 they may also be reallocated to the rankings.

 

Athletes by Nations

• Egypt – 3
• Lithuania – 3
• Great Britain – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Canada – 1
• China – 1
• Germany – 1
• Italy – 1
• Russia – 1
• United States – 1

 

References

• UIPM. Modern Pentathlon Men Senior OG Rankings. Access on June 1 2016.
• UIPM. Modern Pentathlon Women Senior OG Rankings. Access on June 1 2016.

Shooting: Tripartite, Trading and Reallocations Announced

The International Sport Shooting Federation has updated its tripartite, traded quotas and the reallocation of some quotas. Originally 24 quotas were reserved for nations which have qualified less than an average of eight athletes to individual events over the past two Olympics. The quotas can be spread out over any of the 15 Olympic events.

In total 18 nations were granted tripartite quotas. Four nations were actually given two quotas; Bolivia (men’s 50m pistol and women’s 10m air rifle), Malta (men’s double trap and women’s 10m air pistol), Oman (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions, women’s 10m air pistol) and Pakistan (men’s 25m rapid fire pistol and women’s 10m air rifle). The 14 nations which received a single tripartite quota were; Andorra (women’s 10m air rifle), Angola (men’s trap), Bangladesh (men’s 10m air rifle), Barbados (men’s skeet), Bhutan (women’s 10m air rifle), Bosnia and Herzegovina (women’s 10m air rifle), Iraq (women’s 10m air rifle), Kosovo (women’s 10m air rifle), Lebanon (women’s trap), Macedonia (women’s 10m air rifle), Nicaragua (men’s 10m air pistol), Panama (men’s 10m air pistol), Paraguay (men’s double trap) and Sri Lanka (men’s 50m rifle prone).

In shooting nations are allowed to trade one of their athlete quotas to another. A nation can only do this once. In total 12 nations have traded quotas; Egypt (women’s 50m rifle 3 positions to men’s trap), India (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions to men’s trap), Italy (men’s 50m pistol to men’s 25m rapid fire pistol), Kazakhstan (men’s trap to women’s trap), South Korea (men’s 10m air pistol to women’s 10m air rifle), Qatar (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions to men’s skeet), Russia (women’s 10m air pistol to women’s skeet), Slovenia (women’s 10m air pistol to women’s 10m air rifle), Sweden (women’s 10m air rifle to men’s double trap) and Switzerland (women’s 10m air rifle to men’s 50m rifle 3 positions). China and Germany also traded quotas, but they also declined a quota due to a single athlete qualifying in two events despite the nation owning two athlete quotas thus we don’t know the trade. Regardless China has lost an athlete quota in men’s 50m pistol and women’s 50m rifle 3 positions and gained an athlete quota in men’s 50m rifle prone. Similarly Germany lost quotas in men’s 50m rifle 3 positions and women’s 10m air rifle and gained an athlete quota in women’s 25m pistol.

The ISSF also announced some reallocations of quotas. Reallocated quotas go to the nation with the most athletes which have attained the MQS, but did not qualify any athlete quotas during the qualification process. In total there were seven reallocated quotas, two from unused tripartite quotas, three through unqualified quotas from the continental qualifiers and two from nations which have declined athlete quotas, specifically China and Germany. The reallocated quotas went to; Azerbaijan (men’s 25m rapid fire pistol), Bahrain (men’s 50m rifle prone), Colombia (men’s trap), Estonia (men’s 25m rapid fire pistol), Lithuania (men’s skeet), Romania (men’s 10m air rifle) and Uzbekistan (men’s 10m air rifle). Technically the Netherlands was initially given a spot, but it was declined.

It is expected that a few more reallocation quotas will be given out as nations begin to finalize their teams. Similarly we can also expect more traded athlete quotas.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Bolivia – 2
• Malta – 2
• Oman – 2
• Pakistan – 2
• Andorra – 1
• Angola – 1
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Bahrain – 1
• Bangladesh – 1
• Barbados – 1
• Bhutan – 1
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1
• Colombia – 1
• Estonia – 1
• Iraq – 1
• Kosovo – 1
• Lebanon – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Macedonia – 1
• Nicaragua – 1
• Panama – 1
• Paraguay – 1
• Romania – 1
• Sri Lanka – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1

 

References

• ISSF. 2016 Olympics Quota Places by Nation and Number. Access on May 29 2016.

Table Tennis: Team Quotas Announced

With the singles quotas confirmed the International Table Tennis Federation has announced the team quotas for each gender. The team quotas were determined through the Olympic Team Rankings. The highest ranking nation from each of the six continents which qualified two athletes qualified their nation to the Olympics. In addition the overall top 10 nations which qualified two athletes also qualified their nation. By qualifying in a team event nations can add one more athlete to their team though the athlete can only compete in the team event. The nations can gain points towards the Olympic Team Rankings through their performance at select world and continental events. The deadline to gain points was May 1st 2016.

For the women’s teams the continental quotas went to China, Germany, United States, Brazil, Egypt and Australia. The tournament was complete with the addition of Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, North Korea, Netherlands, Romania, Poland and Austria.

The continental quotas for the men’s teams went to China, Germany, Brazil, Nigeria, United States and Australia. The tournament was complete with the addition of Japan, Hong Kong, Portugal, South Korea, France, Sweden, Austria, Poland, Chinese Taipei and Great Britain.

Nations must confirm the quotas before they become finalized. In addition there will be seven reallocated quotas to the singles for both genders due to the excess of quotas for athletes only participating in the team events and the host quota.  While it is simple to calculate where those quotas would go it is best to wait for the ITTF to officially announce them.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Australia – 2
• Austria – 2
• Brazil – 2
• China – 2
• Chinese Taipei – 2
• Germany – 2
• Hong Kong – 2
• Japan – 2
• Poland – 2
• South Korea – 2
• United States – 2
• Egypt – 1
• France – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• Netherlands – 1
• Nigeria – 1
• North Korea – 1
• Portugal – 1
• Romania – 1
• Singapore – 1
• Sweden – 1

 

References

• ITTF. Teams Qualified For The Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Access on May 21 2016.

Beach Volleyball: Egypt Wins First African Continental Cup

Egypt was able to qualify to the Olympics by winning its first African Beach Volleyball Continental Cup. The Continental Cup features nations with two beach volleyball teams playing against each other. Ten teams reached the final tournament where they were split into two groups of five. The top two advanced to the semi-final where the winner qualified to the Olympics. The African Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Final was held in Abuja, Nigeria from April 14th to April 17th 2016.

Group A was topped by Nigeria as they defeated 2012 winner, Mauritius 2-0. Mauritius booked its spot to the semi-final with wins over Sierra Leone, Gambia and Ghana.

Group B was topped by Egypt and Rwanda as the two nations defeated Morocco, Namibia and Mozambique. The match between Egypt and Rwanda was rained out and was not played on the first day. It is currently unknown if a replacement match was played on the second day, but regardless Rwanda topped the group.

The first semi-final between Nigeria and Egypt had the two nations trading matches as their number one teams defeated their opponent’s number two teams. A final golden match was used to determine the winner where Egypt won the match 2-0 to win the overall series 2-1. Rwanda also booked its spot to the final as both of their teams defeated Mauritius’ teams.

The final between Egypt and Rwanda had the two nations trading wins as their top team defeated their opponent’s second team. The final golden match was played where Egypt won both sets 21-19 and a spot to the Olympics. Nigeria won the bronze medal by winning the series 2-0 against Mauritius.

Rwanda and Nigeria will be given a second opportunity to qualify to the Olympics at the final qualification tournament to be held during the final days of qualification.

 

Tournament Rankings

1. Egypt
2. Rwanda
3. Nigeria
4. Mauritius
5. Morocco
6. Sierra Leone
7. Namibia
8. Gambia
9. Mozambique
10. Ghana

 

 

References

• CAVB. Mauritius off to winning start as African teams chase Olympic dream. Access on April 18 2016.
• CAVB. Nigeria, Rwanda, Mauritius and Egypt reach CAVB Continental Cup semifinals. Access on April 18 2016.
• CAVB. Egypt, Rwanda head for showdown in CAVB Continental Cup final. Access on April 18 2016.
• CAVB. Egypt claim CAVB Continental Cup gold to book Rio 2016 ticket. Access on April 18 2016.

Fencing: Adjusted Official Rankings and Olympic Quotas Published

33 nations have qualified at least one fencer after the publication of the 2015-16 Fencing Adjusted Official Rankings. For weapons with a team event (men’s epee, men’s foil, women’s epee and women’s sabre) the highest four ranked teams qualified three athletes along with the top ranked team from each continent provided that they are ranked from 5th to 16th in the world. Furthermore, seven athletes (2 from Europe, 2 from Asia-Oceania, 2 from Americas and 1 from Africa) from nations not qualified in the team events will be given a spot to compete with a maximum of one per nation. For the weapons without a team event (men’s sabre and women’s foil) the top 14 ranked athletes, with a maximum of two per nation qualify to the Olympics along with eight, two per continent highest ranked athletes with a maximum of one per nation. The rolling rankings included points awarded to athletes based on the various results such as World Cup, Grand Prix, World Championship and Continental Championships held between April 3rd 2015 and April 4th 2016.

France topped the men’s epee team ranking with Ukraine, Italy and Switzerland making up the top four. Russia, South Korea and Venezuela made up the continental teams. Egypt failed to finish in the top 16 thus Africa’s spot went to the next highest ranked nation, Hungary. Three athletes from the mentioned teams will compete in the individual epee along with Bas Verwijlen (Netherlands), Jiao Yunlong (China), Nikolai Novosjolv (Estonia), Alexandre Bouzaid (Senegal), Jason Pryor (United States) and Maxime Brinck-Croteau (Canada).

In the women’s epee team ranking the list was topped by Romania with China, Russia and Estonia making up the top four. South Korea, United States and Ukraine made up the continental teams. South Africa failed to finish in the top 16 thus Africa’s spot went to the next highest ranked nation, France. Three athletes from the mentioned teams will compete in the individual epee along with Rossella Fiamingo (Italy), Sarra Besbes (Tunisia), Emese Szasz (Hungary), Nathalie Moellhausen (Brazil), Nozomi Sato (Japan), Vivian Kong (Hong Kong) and Leonora MacKinnon (Canada).

The men’s foil team rankings were topped by Russia with Italy, France and the United States rounding up the top four. China, Great Britain, Egypt and Brazil made up the continental teams. Three athletes from the mention teams will compete in the individual foil along with Yuki Ota (Japan), Heo Jun (South Korea), Peter Joppich (Germany), Alexander Choupenitch (Czech Republics), Mohamed Ferjani (Tunisia), Maximilien van Haaster (Canada) and Daniel Gomez (Mexico).

The top 14 women in the individual foil with a maximum of two athletes per nation were as follows; Arianna Errigo (Italy), Inna Deriglazova (Russia), Elisa Di Francisca (Italy), Lee Kiefer (United States), Aida Shanaeva (Russia), Ysaora Thibus (France), Ines Boubakri (Tunisia), Nzingha Prescod (United States), Jeon Hee Sook (South Korea), Nam Hyunhee (South Korea), Astrid Guyart (France), Aida Mohamed (Hungary), Le Huilin (China) and Carolin Golubytskyi (Germany). The athletes which qualified as the two best from their continents were as follows; Edina Knapek (Hungary), Eleanor Harvey (Canada), Saskia van Erven Garcia (Colombia), Noura Mohamed (Egypt), Anissa Khelfaoui (Algeria) and Mona Shaito (Lebanon).

The top 14 men in the individual sabre with a maximum of two athletes per nation were as follows; Alexey Yakimenko (Russia), Gu Bongil (South Korea), Aron Szilagyi (Hungary), Tiberiu Dolniceanu (Romania), Kim Junghwan (South Korea), Max Hartung (Germany), Aldo Montano (Italy), Eli Dershwitz (United States), Nikolay Kovalev (Russia), Daryl Homer (United States), Mojtaba Abedini (Iran), Diego Occhiuzzi (Italy), Matyas Szabo (Germany) and Aliaksandr Buikevich (Belarus). The athletes which qualified as the two best from their continents were as follows; Vincent Anstett (France), Renzo Agresta (Brazil), Joseph Polossifakis (Canada), Tamas Decsi (Hungary), Ali Pakdaman (Iran), Mohamed Amer (Egypt), Yemi Apithy (Benin) and Sun Wei (China).

The women’s sabre team rankings were topped by Russia with Ukraine, France and the United States making up the top four. South Korea, Italy and Mexico made up the continental teams. Tunisia failed to finish in the top 16 thus Africa’s spot went to the next highest ranked nation, Poland. Three athletes from the mention teams will compete in the individual sabre along with Shen Chen (China), Anna Marton (Hungary), Vassiliki Vougiouka (Greece), Azza Besbes (Tunisia), Chika Aoki (Japan), Alejandra Benitez Romero (Venezuela) and Maria Perez Maurice (Argentina).

Overall Russia will be sending a full team while France will be competing in all of the events. China, Italy, South Korea and the United States will be competing in at least all of the individual events. The zonal tournaments which will be held in the coming weeks will decide the final athletes to compete in fencing at the Olympics.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Russia – 16
• France – 15
• Italy – 14
• South Korea – 14
• United States – 14
• China – 11
• Hungary – 9
• Ukraine – 9
• Brazil – 5
• Canada – 5
• Egypt – 5
• Estonia – 4
• Germany – 4
• Japan – 4
• Mexico – 4
• Poland – 4
• Romania – 4
• Tunisia – 4
• Venezuela – 4
• Great Britain – 3
• Switzerland – 3
• Iran – 2
• Algeria – 1
• Argentina – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Benin – 1
• Colombia – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Greece – 1
• Hong Kong – 1
• Lebanon – 1
• Netherlands – 1
• Senegal – 1

 

References

• FIE. Fencing Olympic Qualification Overview. Access on April 4 2016.

Wrestling: African/Oceania Tournament Concludes With 9 Qualified Nations

Nine nations qualified to the Olympics after the 2016 African and Oceania Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament. The top two nations from each event were given a spot to compete at the Olympics. The African and Oceania Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Algiers, Algeria from April 1st to April 3rd 2016.

Egypt was the top nation in the Greco-Roman events as they qualified in all six events, winning in five. The only blemish from their record was Morocco’s Zied Ait Ouagram’s victory over Egypt’s Mahmoud Sebie. Morocco also qualified a second athlete in the -59kg via El Mahadi Messaoudi. Second place finishes in the -85kg and -98kg events will assure Algeria two quotas while second place finishes in the -66kg and -130kg from Australia will ensure Oceania will have some representation in wrestling.

In the women’s freestyle events it was Nigeria which came away with the most quotas, winning four. The team will be made up of 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Aminat Adeniyi in the -58kg, 2015 All-African Games gold medalists Mercy Genesis in the -48kg and Blessing Oborududu in the -63kg and 2015 All-African Games silver medalist Hannah Rueben in the -69kg. Cameroon qualified three athletes, headlined by 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Annabelle Ali who will compete in her third Olympics. She will be joined by 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Rebecca Muambo in the -48kg and Joseph Essombe in the -53kg. Tunisia qualified two athletes in the -58kg and -63kg while Egypt qualified two athletes in the -69kg and -75kg. Senegal’s Isabelle Sambou rounds out the field by qualifying in the -53kg.

In the men’s freestyle events Egypt and Nigeria won two gold medals each. Egypt’s Mohamed Zaghloul defeated Tunisia’s Mohamed Saadaoui in the -86kg and his compatriot, Diaaeldin Kamal defeated Tunisia’s SlimTrabelsi in the -125kg. Nigeria’s Amas Daniel defeated Australia’s Sahit Prizreni in the -65kg and his compatriot, Soso Tamarau defeated Egypt’s Aly Hamdy Amin in the -97kg. In the other events Senegal’s Adama Diatta defeated Morocco’s Chakir Ansari in the -57kg and Guinea-Bissau’s Augusto Midina defeated Australia’s Talgat Ilyasov in the -74kg.

Athletes from Africa and Oceania not yet qualified will have two more opportunities to qualify to the Olympics at the final Olympic qualification tournaments.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Egypt – 11
• Nigeria – 6
• Australia – 4
• Tunisia – 4
• Cameroon – 3
• Morocco – 3
• Algeria – 2
• Senegal – 2
• Guinea-Bissau – 1

 

References

• UWW. 2016 Africa/Oceania OG Qualifying Tournament Results. Access on April 3 2016.