Archery: Final Olympic Qualifiers Adds 6 Teams and 11 Individuals

The final Olympic quotas were decided at the 2016 Archery World Cup – Stage 3. A special Final Olympic Qualification Tournament was held during the World Cup event. The top three nations from the team event of the Olympic qualification tournament qualified to the Olympics. In the individual event, initially three spots were available to the highest ranked athletes with a maximum of one quota per nation per gender, but should a nation whom qualified in the team event, previously qualified an individual quota that quota will be reallocated to the next highest ranked eligible athlete at this individual event. The Archery World Cup – Stage 3 was held in Antalya, Turkey from June 12th to June 19th 2016.

In the women’s team recurve Germany was the top nation in the ranking round, finishing with a score of 1991. However, they suffered an early upset to Estonia in the first round where Estonia won in an upset. Estonia would continue its unlikely run by defeating Great Britain 6-0 in the quarter-final. In the semi-final they were stopped by fifth seed Ukraine whom won the match 5-3. The other half of the bracket was relatively tame as both the second and third seed Italy and Chinese Taipei respectively faced off in the semi-final. The match went to a tie-breaker where Italy advanced to the final. Ukraine would go on to win the event with a 5-1 win over Italy. For third place and the final Olympic quota Chinese Taipei easily dispatched Estonia to win the match 6-0. Since Chinese Taipei, Italy and the Ukraine all qualified athletes previously the total amount of quotas for the women’s individual qualifiers will be six.

The men’s team recurve saw many upsets. After winning the top seed in the ranking round with a score of 2008 India quickly felt the pressure as the required a tie-breaker to defeat Turkey and then were eliminated in the quarter-final after losing a tie-breaker to Malaysia. Second seed Mexico lost 6-0 in the first round to Canada while fourth seed Russia lost to 12th seed Indonesia 5-3 in the quarter-final. In total the semi-finals consisted of 8th seed Malaysia, 12th seed Indonesia, 3rd seed Germany and 10th seed France. Indonesia booked their spot to the Olympics with a 6-0 victory over Malaysia while France qualified by defeating Germany 5-1. Indonesia would go on to win the event 6-0. The final Olympic quota was decided in the third place match where Malaysia defeated Germany 6-2. Since Indonesia and Malaysia qualified athletes previously the total amount of quotas for the men’s individual qualifiers will be five.

While there were relatively few upsets in the women’s individual recurve none of the top four seeds reached the semi-final though three of them reached the quarter-final. The first semi-final was between Moldova’s Alexandra Mirca and Great Britain’s Naomi Folkard. Folkard won the match 7-3. The other semi-final match was between Estonia’s Laura Nurmsalu and Sweden’s Christine Bjerendal. Nurmsalu won the match 6-4. All four nations qualified a quota to the Olympics. The event was won by Nurmsalu whom defeated Folkard 6-0. The other two Olympic quotas went to Finland (Taru Kuoppa) and Spain (Adriana Martin).

One of the largest upsets in the entire qualifier came in the men’s individual recurve in the round of 32 where 80th seed Boris Balaz of Slovakia defeated top seed Bair Tsybekdorzhiev of Russia in a 6-4 match. Balaz was unable to reach the semi-final as he lost to Thailand’s Witthaya Thamwong 6-2 in the quarter-finals, however, it would be enough to grab one of the Olympics quotas. The final was between two Belarussians where Anton Prilepov and Pavel Dalidovich faced off against each other. Prilepov won the match 6-0. Since a nation can only qualify one athlete quota the five quotas went to Belarus (Anton Prilepov), Thailand (Witthaya Thamwong), Belgium (Robin Ramaekers), Norway (Baard Nesteng) and Slovakia (Boris Balaz).

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify to the Olympics. All that is left is for the tripartite quotas to be announced and for nations to officially confirm their quotas.

 

Athletes by Nations

• Chinese Taipei – 3
• France – 3
• Indonesia – 3
• Italy – 3
• Malaysia – 3
• Ukraine – 3
• Belarus – 1
• Belgium – 1
• Estonia – 1
• Finland – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• Moldova – 1
• Norway – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• Spain – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Thailand – 1

 

References

• IANSEO. Archery World Cup 2016 – Stage 3 + Final Olympic Qualifier Results. Access on June 17 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.

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.

Rowing: Asian and Oceania Regatta Concludes However Reallocations Still Needed

Asian and Oceania nations had the opportunity to qualify boats at the 2016 Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta. The top seven boats in the single sculls and the top three boats in the lightweight double sculls qualify their nation to the Olympics. In addition a nation can only qualify one boat per gender. The Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta was held in Chungju, South Korea from April 22nd to April 25th 2016.

The top two in the four heats of the men’s single sculls advanced to the A/B semi-final while all other boats advanced to the repechage. The fastest boat was Indonesia’s Memo who won heat 3 with a time of 6:46.26. In the two repechages the top two advanced to the A/B semi-final. Uzbekistan’s Shakhnoz Kholmurzaev finished with the fastest time of 7:12.84 winning repechage 1. South Korea’s Kim Dong Yong won the first A/B semi-final with a time of 7:18.74 while Kazakhstan’s Vladislav Yakovlev won the second A/B semi-final with a time of 7:14.38. India, Indonesia, Iraq and Thailand also advanced to the A Final and thus became the first six boats to qualify to the Olympics. Kim would win the overall title with a time of 7:05.13. In the B final Uzbekistan’s Shakhnoz Kholmurzaev grabbed the final quota with a time of 7:13.83.

The top two in the three heats in the women’s single sculls advanced to the A/B semi-final while all other boats advanced to the repechage. The fastest boat was Chinese Taipei’s Wang Ming-Hui who won heat 1 and finished with a time of 7:31.15. In the two repechages the top three advanced to the A/B semi-final. Singapore’s Saiyidah Mohamed Rafa’ee finished with the fasted time of 8:06.23, winning repechage 2. Wang had another good performance in the A/B semi-final as she won the first race with a time of 8:01.86. South Korea’s Kim Yeji won the second A/B semi-final with a time of 7:57.64. Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan and Vietnam also advanced to the A final and thus became the first six boats to qualify to the Olympics. Kim would win the overall title with a time of 7:44.52. In the B final Singapore’s Saiyidah Mohamed Rafa’ee grabbed the final quota with a time of 7:53.13.

The top ranked boat in the two heats of the men’s lightweight double sculls advanced to the A final while all other boats advanced to the repechage. The first heat was won by Japan whom finished with a time of 6:20.70 while the second heat was won by India whom finished with a time of 6:22.75. In the two repechages the top two advanced to the A final. The repechages were won by China and Hong Kong with a time of 6:37.50 and 6:37.17 respectively. Also advancing to the A final were Indonesia and Uzbekistan. In the A final China won the event with a time of 6:24.70. Japan and Hong Kong won silver and bronze respectively and also qualified to the Olympics.

The top two ranked boats in the two heats of the women’s lightweight double sculls advanced to the A final while all other boats advanced to the repechage. Japan and South Korea won their heats with a time of 7:05.95 and 7:09.35 respectively. Also advancing to the A final were Hong Kong and Iran. In the single repechage the top two advanced to the A final. The repechage was won by Vietnam whom finished ahead of Kazakhstan to finish with a time of 7:23.05. In the A final Japan won the event with a time of 7:03.19. South Korea and Vietnam won silver and bronze respectively and also qualified to the Olympics.

Since a nation can only qualify one boat per gender there will be a couple of reallocations in the women events. South Korea and Vietnam must now choose which event they will compete in causing the other boat to be reallocated. Depending on the choice we could see Thailand and Qatar win a quota in the single sculls, Hong Kong and Thailand win a quota in the lightweight double sculls or a combination of Thailand and Hong Kong winning a quota in the single sculls and lightweight double sculls respectively.

 

Quotas by Nations

• South Korea – 3*
• Indonesia – 2
• Japan – 2
• Kazakhstan – 2
• Vietnam – 2*
• China – 1
• Hong Kong – 1
• India – 1
• Iran – 1
• Iraq – 1
• Singapore – 1
• Chinese Taipei – 1
• Thailand – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1

* Must choose boat

 

References

• World Rowing. 2016 FISA Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta – Schedule and Results. Access on April 25 2016.

Weightlifting: After Delay, 31 Nations Qualify After 2014&2015 World Championships

In total, 31 nations qualified athletes to the Olympics based on the Weightlifting Olympic Qualification Rankings. The weightlifting quotas were decided by a ranking system based on the results of the 2014 and 2015 World Championships. The top 25 eligible athletes from each weight class are given points for their nations. Only the top 6 men and top 4 women from each nation are counted towards the rankings. The men ranked 1st-6th will be given 6 athlete quotas, 7th-12th will be given 5, 13th-18th will be given 4 and 19th-24th will be given 3. For the women 1st-9th will be given 4 athlete quotas, 10th-16th will be given 3 and 17th-21st will be given 2. The 2014 World Weightlifting Championship was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan from November 8th to November 16th 2014 while the 2015 World Weightlifting Championship was held in Houston, United States from November 20th to November 28th 2015.

In the men’s events in the 2014 world championship were dominated by Asian nations as they were able to win gold in seven out of the eight events. Only Ruslan Albegov of Russia was able to go against the trend with a gold medal in the +105kg category. China, Kazakhstan and North Korea won two gold medals a piece with Liao Hui of China setting a world record in the -69kg category. The other gold medal went to Kianoush Rostami of Iran in the -85kg. The rankings by the end of the competition had China, North Korea and Kazakhstan holding the top three positions.

The women’s events at the 2014 world championships were similarly dominated by Asian nations with China winning three gold medals. Like with the men Russia was the only non-Asian gold medalist as they won two gold medals and set a new world record in +75kg event by Tatiana Kashirina. The other two events were won by Kazakhstan in the -53kg and North Korea in -69kg. The rankings by the end of the competition had China, Russia and Kazakhstan holding the top three positions.

Between the 2014 and 2015 world championships Bulgaria was banned by the International Weightlifting Federation for repeat drug offenses meaning they were stripped of all their points earned at the 2014 world championships. In the same vein Romania was sanctioned where they would lose one quota spot should they qualify. This caused a delay of the release of the combined results for about a week as the International Weightlifting Federation had to recalculate the scores.

China, Kazakhstan and Russia led all nations in the men’s events as they won gold in two of the overall events. Their performance was capped by world records by China’s Chen Lijun and Russia’s Aleksey Lovchev in the -62kg and +105kg events respectively. North Korea’s Om Yun-Chol retained his world title in the -56kg while the final gold medal went to Belarus’ Vadzim Straltsou in the -94kg. The 2015 rankings were led by Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus as China and North Korea finished a bit lower due to failed lifts by some of their athletes.

China continued to be the powerhouse in the women’s events as they won gold in 4 out of the 7 overall events. Azerbaijan’s Boyanka Kostova set a world record in the -58kg event. The other gold medals went to Hsu Shu-Ching of Chinese Taipei in the -53kg while Tatiana Kashirna of Russia retained her crown in the +75kg event. The 2015 rankings were led by China, Russia and North Korea.

For the most part the combined rankings gave the expected nations the expected quotas. One of the bigger surprises was that Iran failed to get 6 men’s quotas, mostly due to their poor performance in the 2015 championship. After only sending three athletes in 2014 and receiving relatively few points Azerbaijan’s 2015 performance gave it enough points to send a team of four males. On the women’s side there was heartbreak for France and Spain as a poor 2015 championship placed them on the outside of the quotas where before it was thought they would easily qualify.

The rankings aren’t completely set in stone as the results need to be confirmed by the drug testing results. Nations not qualifying any quotas will get another opportunity at the continental qualifiers where they will compete to gain a single quota per gender.

 

Men Rankings by Nation

1. Russia – 6
2. Kazakhstan – 6
3. North Korea – 6
4. Belarus – 6
5. China – 6
6. Egypt – 6
7. Indonesia – 5
8. Armenia – 5
9. Colombia – 5
10. Uzbekistan – 5
11. Moldova – 5
12. Iran – 5
13. Thailand – 4
14. Poland – 4
15. Germany – 4
16. Azerbaijan – 4
17. Ukraine – 4
18. South Korea – 4
19. France – 3
20. Vietnam – 3
21. Georgia – 3
22. Romania – 3*
23. Spain – 3
24. Chinese Taipei – 3

 

Women Rankings by Nation

1. China – 4
2. Russia – 4
3. North Korea – 4
4. Kazakhstan – 4
5. Thailand – 4
6. Chinese Taipei – 4
7. Colombia – 4
8. Belarus – 4
9. Japan – 4
10. Ukraine – 3
11. South Korea – 3
12. Egypt – 3
13. Venezuela – 3
14. United States – 3
15. Mexico – 3
16. Turkey – 3
17. Dominican Republic – 2
18. Ecuador – 2
19. Armenia – 2
20. Indonesia – 2
21. Romania – 2*

 

* Romania will have a reduction of one quota

 

References

• IWF. Weightlifting Olympic Men Qualification Ranking List. Access on December 5 2015.
• IWF. Weightlifting Olympic Women Qualification Ranking List. Access on December 5 2015.

Archery: China and South Korea Qualify Both Men and Women’s Team at World Archery Champs

21 nations have booked their tickets to Rio after they qualified spots at the 2015 World Archery Championships. The top 8 recurve teams along with the 8 highest not yet qualified individuals were given quotas to compete. The World Archery Championships were held in Copenhagen, Denmark from July 26th to August 2nd 2015.

With Brazil failing to qualify to the round of 16 in the women’s team recurve it was a simple whoever reached the quarterfinals will qualify scenario. The biggest upsets were Colombia beating Chinese Taipei and Georgia defeating Italy as both nations qualified to the Olympics. The other six nations to book their spot were South Korea, Russia, Mexico, China, Japan and India. The upsets continued in the following rounds with Russia defeating Mexico and South Korea to reach the finals while India upset Japan in the semifinals who they themselves had just upset China in the quarterfinals. In the finals Russia and India had to take it to a fifth set where Russia was able to win 5-4. The bronze medal went to South Korea as they defeated Japan 5-1.

As Brazil qualified to the round of 16 had they won their match against Australia a repechage round for the round of 16 losers would have been needed in the men’s team recurve. However there was no need for that as Australia won its match. The other seven nations to qualify to the Olympics were South Korea, Spain, United States, Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, China and Italy. Despite needing a fifth round to defeat Poland South Korea was able to cruise the rest of their matches defeating Spain and the United States in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively to meet Italy in the finals. From there they continued their dominate performance and defeated Italy in straight sets, 6-0 to win. The United States won bronze by defeating Chinese Taipei 6-2.

In the women’s individual recurve the first set of Olympic quotas were decided in the round of 32. Lin Shih-chia (Chinese Taipei), Lisa Unruh (Germany), Veronika Marchenko (Ukraine), Khatuna Lorig (United States) and Ika Rochmawati (Indonesia) were able to win their matches to advance to the round of 16 as they were the final archers remaining that had not qualified from the team event. The event was won by South Korea’s Ki Bo-bae whom defeated Lin Shih-chia of Chinese Taipei. The bronze medal went to South Korea’s Choi Mi-sun whom defeated India’s Laxmirani Majhi.

To decide the final three spots a secondary Olympic qualifier bracket was set up for eligible individuals whom lost in the round of 32. They were Semra Lingard (Australia), Olga Senyuk (Azerbaijan), Laurence Baldauff (Austria), Karina Lipiarska (Poland), Guendalina Sartori (Italy) and Karyna Dziominskaya (Belarus). The bracket was won by Sartori whom defeated Baldauff 6-4. The third and final spot went to Lipiarska whom defeated Senyuk 6-4.

Six out of the eight spots available in the men’s individual recurve were decided in the round of 32. Viktor Ruban (Ukraine), Takaharu Furukawa (Japan), Elias Malave (Venezuela), Managal Champia (India), Daniel Betancur (Colombia) and Crispin Duenas (Canada) were able to win their matches to advance to the round of 16. The event was won by South Korea’s Kim Woo-jin whom defeated Netherlands’ Rick van der Ven 6-2. The bronze medal went to Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa whom defeated Venezuela’s Elias Malave 6-5.

A separate bracket that included eligible round of 32 losers was created to decide the final two spots. In total 13 archers from 12 nations were fighting for one of the two spots. Germany was guaranteed a quota when both of their archers met in the semifinals. It was Florian Kahllund whom defeated his compatriot Christian Weiss 7-1. In the other semi-final it was Indonesia’s Riau Ega Agatha whom defeated Mexico’s Ernesto Boardman 7-3 to win the final spot. In the final Kahllund defeated Agatha 7-3.

Next up for archery are the continental championships. A nation can only qualify a single individual unless it has a team. The final team qualifiers won’t be held until the final qualifier to be held in 2016.

Number of Athletes by Nation

• China – 6
• South Korea – 6
• Chinese Taipei – 4
• Colombia – 4
• India – 4
• Italy – 4
• Japan – 4
• United States – 4
• Australia – 3
• Georgia – 3
• Mexico – 3
• Netherlands – 3
• Russia – 3
• Spain – 3
• Germany – 2
• Indonesia – 2
• Ukraine – 2
• Austria – 1
• Canada – 1
• Poland – 1
• Venezuela – 1

References

• Ianseo. World Archery Championships – World Archery (WA) – Copenhagen (DEN). Access on August 2 2015.