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.

Tennis: Athlete List Updated After Withdrawals

After a number of late withdrawals the International Tennis Federation has announced an updated list of qualified athletes. In total three men and three women withdrew and have been replaced.

For the men Milos Raonic (Canada), Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) and Richard Gasquet (France) have withdrawn and Jordan Thompson (Australia), Benoit Paire (France) and Teymuraz Gabashvili (Russia) have replaced them. For the women Victoria Azarenka (Belarus), Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) and Simona Halep (Romania) have withdrawn and Mariana Duque-Marino (Colombia), Ana Konjuh (Croatia) and Cagla Buyukakcay (Turkey) have replaced them.

Due to these changes a number of doubles partners have changed. In the men’s doubles Daniel Nestor, whom has been added and Vasek Pospisil (Canada), Lukas Rosol and Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) and Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) will compete together. Also the Czech Republic will only send one doubles team meaning Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and Miguel Angel Reyes Varela will compete in the event. For the women’s doubles only the Czech Republic contain a change with Lucie Safarova partnering up with Barbora Strycova.

 

Net Athlete Changes by Nations

• Mexico – 2
• Australia – 1
• Colombia -1
• Croatia – 1
• Russia – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Canada – 0
• France – 0
• Belarus – -1
• Romania – -1
• Czech Republic – -2

 

References

• ITF. Rio 2016 Olympic Tennis Event entries. Access on July 19 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.

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.

Basketball: Final Teams Determined For Men’s Tournament

Three European nations grabbed the final quotas in the Men’s Basketball World Olympic Qualification Tournaments. In total three qualification tournaments were held, each containing six teams where they were split into two groups of three where a round robin was played. The top two advanced to the semi-final with the winner of each tournament qualifying to the Olympics. The three tournaments were held from July 4th to July 10th 2016 in Belgrade, Serbia, Manila, Philippines and Turin, Italy respectively.

The first tournament in Serbia had the host nation top Group A with 87-81 and 83-60 victories over Puerto Rico and Angola respectively. Puerto Rico also advanced to the semi-final with a 91-81 victory over Angola. Group B saw Latvia top the group with 88-48 and 71-59 victories over Japan and the Czech Republic respectively. The Czech Republic advanced second in the group after a 87-71 victory over Japan.

The semi-final saw a close match between Latvia and Puerto Rico with Puerto Rico holding a 51-50 lead going into the final quarter. The match was tied with two minutes remaining and still in doubt with 30 seconds left, but late baskets from Puerto Rico gave them the 77-70 victory. In the other match Serbia won in relative ease 96-72. The final saw Serbia starting off very well to the tune of a 37-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. Puerto Rico would never fully recover from that as Serbia would go on to qualify to the Olympics with a 108-77 win.

The second tournament in the Philippines saw Group A’s Canada top the group with two close, but in control victories where they won 77-69 and 58-55 against Turkey and Senegal respectively. Despite a poor third quarter Turkey defeated Senegal 68-62 to advance to the semi-final. In Group B the hosts were met with an early tournament after 93-84 and 89-80 losses to France and New Zealand respectively, ending their bid to the Olympics. France finished first in the group where they went from being down 48-38 going into the fourth to winning the match 66-59.

The semi-final was similar for Canada where they did just enough to stay ahead and defeat New Zealand 78-72. France won the other semi-final over Turkey in a 75-53 match. The final saw Canada and France go toe to toe before France built up a small lead. While Canada challenged it a few times France was always equal to the task, winning the match and qualifying to the Olympics 83-74.

The third tournament in Italy saw Group A’s Greece top the group with an easy 78-53 win over Iran and needing a very strong second half to put Mexico whom actually led at half-time away 86-70. Mexico also advanced from the group after a 75-70 victory over Iran. Group B similarly saw Italy easily defeat Tunisia 68-41 and the third quarter was the difference in their match against Croatia where they won 67-60. Croatia advanced second in the group with a 72-52 victory over Tunisia.

The first semi-final match saw Croatia jump to a 31-13 lead after the first quarter against Greece. Greece however did not roll over and spent most of the match catching up and actually took a small lead towards the end of the third quarter. Croatia would eventually get it back together and quickly retook the lead and held on to it for a 66-61 point victory. The other semi-final match saw Italy win 79-54 over Mexico. The final was a very close affair. Any time Croatia would create any sort of lead Italy would erase it. A basket with five seconds remaining from Italy’s Nicolo Melli tied things up at 70-70 thus forcing overtime. Croatia would take the early lead in overtime and never relinquish it, winning the match and qualifying to the Olympics 84-78.

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify to the Olympics in basketball. For France this will be their ninth appearance in the men’s tournament while for Serbia and Croatia this will be their fourth Olympics as independent nations, though for Serbia this will be their first under the name “Serbia.”

 

Tournament 1 Rankings

1. Serbia
2. Puerto Rico
3. Latvia
4. Czech Republic
5. Angola
6. Japan

 

Tournament 2 Rankings

1. France
2. Canada
3. New Zealand
4. Turkey
5. Senegal
6. Philippines

 

Tournament 3 Rankings

1. Croatia
2. Italy
3. Greece
4. Mexico
5. Iran
6. Tunisia

 

References

• FIBA. Men’s Final Qualification Tournament – Serbia. Access on July 10 2016.
• FIBA. Men’s Final Qualification Tournament – Philippines. Access on July 10 2016.
• FIBA. Men’s Final Qualification Tournament – Italy. Access on July 10 2016.

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.

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: 2014/2015 World Championship Olympic Rankings Updated After Doping Removal

The International Weightlifting Federation has updated the 2014/2015 World Championship Olympic Rankings. This was done to remove athletes whom have been confirmed to have tested positive for doping. This is not the final list as the appeal process has yet to be finished plus Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia could be banned depending on the results of the retesting of 2008 and 2012 Olympic samples.

For the women’s quotas only one major change was done Belarus fell in the rankings where they lost a quota while the Ukraine has moved up to gain a quota. Overall Ukraine will now send four athletes while Belarus will only send three.

The men’s quotas are a bit complicated. Overall Thailand and Moldova have swapped places, resulting in quota changes. Thailand will now send five while Moldova would have initially sent four, but with sanctions due to doping they will now only send two. The big change was Azerbaijan completely falling out of the rankings meaning it fully loses three quotas (in addition to the one quota it already lost due to multiple doping offenses). Overall this results with France moving up from three quotas to four quotas while Japan will now send three athletes.

With Japan now qualifying through the World Olympic Rankings its results from the Asian Championship are now removed. After recalculating Saudi Arabia will now send one athlete. Likewise Azerbaijan’s results at the European Championship will now count. No changes were made. Azerbaijan, however, would have qualified an athlete through the individual rankings, but since they will lose one quota due to multiple doping offenses Azerbaijan will not send an athlete in weightlifting.

As previously said there will be an appeal process plus there is the possibility of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia from being completely banned. Also the IWF has not released the final results from the continental championships meaning there could be more changes due to the result of doping.

 

Net Quotas by Nations

• Japan – 2
• France – 1
• Saudi Arabia – 1
• Thailand – 1
• Ukraine – 1
• Belarus – -1
• Moldova – -1
• Azerbaijan – -3

 

References

• IWF. Rio 2016 Olympic Games Qualification Men’s Team Classification 2014 & 2015 IWF World Championships. Access on June 27 2016.
• IWF. Rio 2016 Olympic Games Qualification Women’s Team Classification 2014 & 2015 IWF World Championships. Access on June 27 2016.

Boxing: 29 Nations Qualify After World Qualification Tournament

29 nations qualified at least one athlete after the 2016 Boxing World Olympic Qualification Tournament. One quota was available in the heavyweight and super heavyweight, two quotas were available in the men’s light flyweight and five quotas were available in the other seven events. In the events with five quotas the quarter-finalist whom lost to the eventual winner qualified as the fifth best athlete. The AIBA World Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Baku, Azerbaijan from June 16th to June 25th 2016.

Overall nine nations won a gold medal among the ten events. The only nation which won two gold medals was Azerbaijan whom won gold in the light flyweight (-49kg) and light heavyweight (-81kg). In the light flyweight Rufat Huseynov defeated Spain’s Samuel Carmona in the final. In the light heavyweight 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Teymur Mammadov defeated Germany’s Serge Michel in the final. Also qualifying were Russia’s Petr Khamukov, Belarus’ Mikhail Dauhaliavets and Morocco’s Hassan Saada. Azerbaijan also qualified a third athlete in the middleweight (-75kg) where Kamran Shakhsuvarly lost to the eventual gold medalist Michael O’Reilly of Ireland whom defeated Turkmenistan’s Arslanbek Achilov in the final. Also qualifying in the middleweight are Iraq’s Waheed Abdul-Ridha and India’s Vikas Yadav.

The only other nation to have qualified three athletes from this event was France. Souleymane Cissokho defeated Hungary’s Imre Bacskai to win the welterweight (-69kg). Also qualifying were Belarus’ Pavel Kastramin, Great Britain’s Josh Kelly and Bulgaria’s Simeon Chamov. The other two French athletes which qualified were Elie Konki in the flyweight (-52kg) and Hassan Amzile in the light welterweight (-64kg). The flyweight was won by Bulgaria’s Daniel Asenov whom defeated United States’ Antonio Vargas. Also qualifying were Turkey’s Selcuk Eker and Mongolia’s Kharkhuugiin Enkh-Amar. The light welterweight was won by Great Britain’s Pat McCormack whom defeated Haiti’s Richardson Hitchins. Also qualifying were United States’ Gary Russell and India’s Monoj Kumar.

The bantamweight (-56kg) was won by 2013 World Championship bronze medalist Mykola Butsenko of Ukraine whom defeated Mongolia’s Erdenebatyn Tsendbaatar. Also qualifying were Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez, Japan’s Arashi Morisaka and Algeria’s Fahem Hammachi. Netherlands’ Enrico Lacruz defeated Tajikistan’s Anvar Yunusov in the final of the lightweight (-60kg) event. Also qualifying are China’s Shan Jun, Chinese Taipei’s Lai Chun-En and Qatar’s Hakan Erseker. The lone quotas for the heavyweight (-90kg) and super heavyweight (+90kg) went to Poland’s Igor Jakubowski and Italy’s Guido Vianello respectively.

There will be one more opportunity for male boxers to qualify to the Olympics, the APB and WSB qualifier which will allow professional boxers to qualify, provided a nation has not already qualified in that event.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Azerbaijan – 3
• France – 3
• Belarus – 2
• Bulgaria – 2
• Germany – 2
• India – 2
• Mongolia – 2
• United States – 2
• Algeria – 1
• China – 1
• Chinese Taipei – 1
• Cuba – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• Haiti – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Iraq – 1
• Ireland – 1
• Italy – 1
• Japan – 1
• Morocco – 1
• Netherlands – 1
• Poland – 1
• Qatar – 1
• Russia – 1
• Spain – 1
• Tajikistan – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Turkmenistan – 1
• Ukraine – 1

 

References

• AIBA. 2016 World Olympic Qualification Event. Access on June 25 2016.

Basketball: Women’s Line-Up Completed After Final Tournament

The final teams were decided at the 2016 Women’s Basketball World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. 12 teams were divided into four groups of three where a round robin was played where the top two advanced to the quarter-final. The four quarter-final winners qualified to the Olympics while the losers played for fifth place and the final spot. No semi-final or finals were played. The Women’s Basketball World Olympic Qualifying Tournament was held in Nantes, France from June 13th to June 19th 2016.

In the group stage France topped Group A with 83-67 and 70-52 wins over Cuba and New Zealand respectively. Cuba, after building a 50-29 lead at half-time was able to hold off a late surge from New Zealand to qualify to the quarter-final via a score of 64-62.

Group B was dominated by Turkey as they defeated Argentina and Cameroon 66-38 and 72-46 respectively. Argentina had a very strong performance against Cameroon as they led the team 43-23 by half-time and coasted to a 75-64 win.

Group C was the most thrilling group as Belarus won the first match against Nigeria 71-60. In the second match South Korea took an early 20-13 lead after the first quarter, but Nigeria stood defiant and spent the entire match trying to catch-up, only to take brief leads in the fourth. Going into the dying seconds South Korea led by 2, but a three-point basket in the final five seconds gave Nigeria the lead to win the game 70-69. Nigeria’s joy disappeared in the final match where South Korea did just enough to hold off Belarus to win the match 66-65. Since all three teams won and lost a game the tie-breaker went to point difference meaning Belarus finished first, South Korea in second while Nigeria was left out of the quarter-final.

Group D was won by Spain as the team set aside both China and Venezuela via a score of 77-43 and 83-55 respectively. China finished in second with their opening win against Venezuela where they won 77-59 in a relatively easy fashion.

The quarter-final matches saw the European nations performing well, particularly Spain, Turkey and France where they defeated South Korea, Cuba and Argentina 70-50, 71-45 and 90-53 respectively to qualify to the Olympics. The other match between Belarus and China was close with China taking a 32-28 lead at half-time. However, in the third quarter China blew up the game as they extended their lead to 19 and ultimately qualified to the Olympic with an 84-70 win.

The fight for the fifth and final Olympic quota saw South Korea defeat Cuba in an 81-62 match while Belarus demolished Argentina 84-44. The fifth place match was a very defensive affair though it was Belarus whom built up a 27-16 lead at half-time. South Korea tried to comeback in the third, but was unable to make any gains as Belarus went on to win the match and qualify to the Olympics with a score of 56-39.

With these five teams the women’s basketball line-up is now complete. Among the teams France will be attempting to defend its silver medal won in 2012 while Belarus and Spain will be making their return to the Olympics after missing out in 2012.

 

Qualified Nations (12 Athletes Each)

• Belarus
• China
• France
• Spain
• Turkey

 

References

• FIBA. Women’s Basketball Final Qualification Tournament Results. Access on June 19 2016.