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.

Weightlifting: IWF Sanctions Nations, Announces Reallocation Quotas

The International Weightlifting Federation has sanctioned eight nations due to their athletes testing positive for performance enhancing drugs multiple times. Overall Azerbaijan lost one male and one female quotas, Belarus lost one male quota, Kazakhstan lost one male and one female quotas, Moldova lost two male quotas, North Korea lost one male and one female quotas, Romania lost one male quota, Russia lost one male and one female quotas and Uzbekistan lost one female quota.

Sanctions could be increased to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia for a total ban depending on the result of the investigation from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Unsurprisingly this will cause a massive change in the World Championship Rankings for Olympic quotas. Sadly the IWF has not published the change in rankings due to wanting to finalize everything. They however, published the reallocation of those quotas lost by the offending nations along with the six women’s quotas that were not allocated from the individual rankings.

The following nations were given a reallocation quota. For the men they are; Chile, Greece, Guatemala, Israel, Kenya, Nauru, Qatar and Sri Lanka. For the women they are; Argentina, Finland, Iraq, Latvia, Mauritius, Morocco, Peru, Solomon Islands, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.

 

Net Quotas by Nations

• Argentina – 1
• Chile – 1
• Finland – 1
• Greece – 1
• Guatemala – 1
• Iraq – 1
• Israel – 1
• Kenya – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Mauritius – 1
• Morocco – 1
• Nauru – 1
• Peru – 1
• Qatar – 1
• Solomon Islands – 1
• Sri Lanka – 1
• Sweden – 1
• United Arab Emirates – 1
• Uruguay – 1
• Belarus – -1
• Romania – -1
• Uzbekistan – -1
• Azerbaijan – -2
• Kazakhstan – -2
• Moldova – -2
• North Korea – -2
• Russia – -2

 

References

• IWF. Strong statement by the IWF Executive Board. Access on June 23 2016.
• IWF. Second day of the IWF Executive Board meeting in Tbilisi. Access on June 23 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.

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.

Weightlifting: Japan and Vietnam Top Olympic Rankings at Asian Championship

Japan and Vietnam led all nations in the team Olympic rankings at the 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championship. The team rankings are constructed by adding the points of the top 6 men or top 4 women of each nation which has yet to qualify to the Olympics. The top seven men’s teams and the top six women’s teams qualified 1 athlete each. The Asian Weightlifting Championship was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from April 22nd to April 30th 2016.

The women’s rankings was topped by Vietnam whom had four athletes finishing as the top ranked athlete from unqualified nations in their weight class thus earning the maximum of 112 points. Following Vietnam were Uzbekistan, India and Mongolia whom finished with 101, 100 and 96 points respectively. The Philippines led by Hidilyn Diaz in the -53kg event finished safely in fifth with a total of 91 points. The final spot came down to Turkmenistan and United Arab Emirates. Going into the final two events Turkmenistan’s Aysoltan Toychyyeva did enough in the -75kg to place her in the lead at 83 points. However, with two United Arab Emirates lifters in the +75kg Turkmenistan had to hope none of the expected competitors ranked above them fail to lift a weight. In the end everyone was able to lift a weight meaning United Arab Emirates narrowly missed out in finishing in the top six as they finished with 81 points.

The men’s ranking was topped by Japan whom sent a very strong team to finish with a total of 145 points. The team podium was filled with Iraq and Malaysia whom finished with a total of 142 and 137 points respectively. As each event went through it became apparent that five nations will be fighting for four spots. Disaster struck for Saudi Arabia in the -94kg event where won of their lifters failed to lift a weight. This was also their final athlete meaning at 121 points Saudi Arabia would have to sit and watch the final two events and hope a nation either underperforms or fails to lift a weight altogether. This did not happened meaning Saudi Arabia finished in eighth. The nations which did qualified were Kyrgyzstan (132 points), Syria (129 points), India (129 points) and Turkmenistan (125 points).

Note that these results are not final until all samples are tested for doping. Asian athletes will have only one more opportunity to qualify, through the world rankings. The three remaining continents will have their qualifiers over the next six weeks.

 

Quotas by Nations

• India – 2
• Turkmenistan – 2
• Iraq – 1
• Japan – 1
• Kyrgyzstan – 1
• Malaysia – 1
• Mongolia – 1
• Philippines – 1
• Syria – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1
• Vietnam – 1

 

References

IWF. 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championship – Results. Access on April 30 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.

Football: Japan Wins 1st Asian Men’s U23 Title

Japan grabbed their first title at the 2016 Asian Men’s U23 Championship. The 16-team tournament was split into four groups of four teams where the top two advance to the quarter-finals. The top three nations qualified to the Olympics. The Asian Men’s U23 Championship was held in four stadiums across Doha, Qatar from January 12th to January 30th 2016.

Group A was won by Qatar as they went undefeated in their group games. The team relied on the scoring prowess of golden ball winner Ahmed Alaa and Abdelkarim Hassan whom combined scored eight out of Qatar’s nine goals. Iran confirmed its spot to the quarter-final where they managed to hold on against China to win 3-2.

Group B was similarly dominated by Japan whom won all three of its group games. The fight for the second spot was a three-way tie between North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Thailand as the three teams all tied each other. North Korea advanced as the second place team because they scored the most goals between the tied teams.

In Group C Iraq and South Korea claimed their spots to the quarter-finals a match early with wins over both Uzbekistan and Yemen. The match between the two to decide who finishes first was a very defensive one. South Korea’s Kim Hyun scored in the 22nd minute and it would look as if South Korea would win in a narrow match until Iraq’s Amjad Hussein scored in the second minute in stoppage time. Despite tying at the final moments South Korea still advanced as the top team due to having a better goal differential.

Group D was a three-way race going into the final match between Australia, Jordan and United Arab Emirates with Vietnam already eliminated. The match between Australia and Jordan ended up being very defensive. Jordan needed only a tie to advance, but Australia required a win to advance. Despite their advances Australia was never able to score its much needed goal and was eliminated by a 0-0 score. United Arab Emirates ended up winning the group with a 3-2 win over Vietnam, in a match that contained two penalty kicks and an own goal.

In the quarter-finals the first match between Japan and Iran went to extra-time after it was tied 0-0. Japan would end up scoring three goals during this period to win the match 3-0. Between Qatar and North Korea it looked as if Qatar would advance 1-0, but So Kyong-Jin scored during stoppage time to send the match to extra-time. The deadlock would be broken in the 92nd minute by Ali Assadalla which sent the hosts to the semi-finals.

The match between South Korea and Jordan was the only match which did not go to extra-time this round as South Korea’s Moon Chang-Jin scored in the 23rd minute to give South Korea the 1-0 win. The final match between United Arab Emirates and Iraq went to extra-time after the score remained 1-1. Iraq’s Mohannad Abdul-Raheem broke the deadlock at the 103rd minute and the nation added an insurance goal late into stoppage time to win the match 3-1.

Japan became the first nation to book a spot to the Olympics with its semi-final win over Iraq. The match was looking to head to extra time when Riki Harawaka scored in the dying seconds of the match, giving the nation a 2-1 victory. Similarly South Korea scored a goal in the 89th minute to give themselves a lead and were able to score another goal in stoppage time as Qatar pressed for an equalizer. South Korea reached the finals and qualified to the Olympics by a score of 3-1.

The final spot for the Olympics was decided in the bronze medal match between Qatar and Iraq. Qatar’s Ahmed Alaa scored the first goal at the 27th minute, but Iraq countered with a late 86th minute goal by Mohannad Abdul-Raheem to send the match into extra-time. Ayman Hussein’s goal at the 109th minute proved to be the difference maker for Iraq as they not only grabbed the bronze medal, but a spot at the Olympics.

In the final match South Korea took a 2-0 lead over Japan. However, two goals over less than two minutes tied the match with just over 20 minutes remaining. Japan’s Takuma Asano scored the deciding goal at the 81st minute to give Japan the title.

Japan and South Korea will be going into the Olympics in hopes of a similar performance to their 2012 campaign where they finished fourth and third respectively. For Iraq this will be their second trip to the Olympic Games, but they too will hope to repeat their performance from 2004 where they finished fourth.

 

Qualified Teams

• Iraq
• Japan
• South Korea

 

References

• AFC. AFC U23 Championship – Schedule and Results. Access on January 30 2016.