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.

Team Preview: Lithuania

Note: Last minute changes are always possible

Lithuania is a Baltic Nation located in Eastern Europe. Lithuania first participated in the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics. After missing the 1932 and 1936 Olympics the nation was incorporated into the Soviet Union towards the end of World War II. Lithuanian athletes competed under the USSR banner until Lithuania regained its independence in 1990. Lithuania returned to the Olympics as an independent nation in 1992 and has competed ever since. As an independent nation Lithuania has won a total of 21 medals with athletics and modern pentathlon accounting for the largest share. In 2012 Lithuania won five medals including 2 golds. The nation will be looking for a similar performance where medal prospects spread across multiple sports.

One of the most talked about teams within Lithuania is the men’s basketball team. After a relatively disappointing quarter-final finish at the 2012 Olympics Lithuania will be looking to reach the medal rounds at this Olympics in hopes of winning their fourth medal. Appearing in their seventh Olympics as an independent nation the team has improved since those games and is currently ranked third in the world. They have more recently finished fourth at the 2014 World Cup and won the silver medal at both of the 2013 and 2015 EuroBasket.

Another medal hopeful for Lithuania will be in the modern pentathlon. Laura Asadauskaite will be competing in her third Olympics and will be defending her gold medal won in 2012. She is the 2015 European champion and also won the gold medal at the 2015 World Cup Final event. She will be joined by Ieva Serapinaite in the women’s race while 2012 Olympian Justinas Kinderis will compete in the men’s race.

The swimming team will be led by 2012 Olympic gold medalist Ruta Meilutyte whom will compete in her signature event, the women’s 100m breaststroke. Meilutyte became the youngest Lithuanian Olympic gold medalist at the age of 15. Since then she has won gold at the 2014 Youth Olympics, silver at the 2015 World Championship and gold at the 2016 European Championship. On the men’s side 2016 European Championship bronze medalist Giedrius Titenis will compete in his third Olympics in the men’s 100m and 200m breaststroke. Danas Rapsys, also a bronze medalist at the 2016 European Championship will compete in the men’s 200m freestyle, 100m and 200m backstroke. Simonas Bilis will compete in the men’s 50m and 100m freestyle and Andrius Sidlauskas will compete in the men’s 100m breaststroke. The men’s side will also enter a 4x100m medley relay where Bilis, Deividas Margevicius, Rapsys and Titenis will compete

Rowing will also be seen as a potential medal prospect for Lithuania. The team will be led by the men’s double sculls boat of Rolandas Mascinskas and Saulius Ritter. The pair will compete together for their second Olympics and are the 2015 World Championship silver medalist. Also a medal threat is 2015 World Championship bronze medalist Mindaugas Griskonis whom will compete in his third Olympics in the men’s single sculls. 2012 Olympian Donata Vistartaite has moved from the women’s singles sculls to the double sculls, partnering with Milda Valciukaite. Together the women won gold at the 2013 World Championship. Other boats which will represent Lithuania include Lina Saltyte in the women’s single sculls and the men’s quadruple sculls boat which include Aurimas Adomavicius, Martynas Dziaugys, Zygimantas Galisanskis and Dominykas Jancionis.

While Lithuania will be sending a small boxing team both athletes will be looking to go far in their respective events. 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and 2015 European Championship bronze medalist Evaldas Petrauskas will compete in the men’s light welterweight. Joining him is 2015 European Championship gold medalist Eimantas Stanionis in the men’s welterweight.

Lithuania will be sending a decently large athletics team. In the road events several athletes will be making their return. In the women’s 20km walk 2012 Olympians Neringa Aidietyte and Brigita Virbalyte-Dimsiene will compete with Zivile Vaiciukeviciute. Marius Ziukas will compete in his third Olympics in the men’s 20km walk along with Marius Savelskis. Also competing in his third Olympics is Tadas Suskevicius whom will compete with Arturas Mastianica in the men’s 50km walk. The women’s marathon will consist of Rasa Drazdauskaite, Diana Lobacevske and Vaida Zusinaite. Drazdauskaite will compete in her third Olympics while Lobacevske will compete in her second. The men’s marathon will be ran by Valdes Dopolskas and Remigijus Kancys.

In the track and field portions of athletics Zinaida Sendriute will compete in her third Olympics in the women’s discus throw. Other returning Olympians include 2012 Olympians Airine Palsyte, gold medalist at the 2015 Universiade Games in the women’s high jump. Also returning for her second Olympics after missing out in 2012 is 2008 Olympian Egle Balciunaite whom will compete in the women’s 800m. Rounding out the team is Andrius Gudzius whom will compete in the men’s discus.

Lithuania will be sending four boats to compete in sprint canoeing. 2015 European Games gold medalist Henrikas Zustautas will represent the team in the men’s C1 200m. Also competing are 2015 European Championship bronze medalists Ignas Navakauskas in the men’s K1 200m and the men’s K2 200m boat consisting of Aurimas Lankas and Edvinas Ramanauskas. Rounding out the team are Ricardas Nekriosius and Andrej Olijnik in the men’s K2 1000m boat.

The cycling team will be led by veteran Simona Krupeckaite whom will compete in her fourth Olympics in the women’s sprint and keirin. On the road the team will be led by 2015 World Championship bronze medalist Ramunas Navardauskas whom will compete in his second Olympics in the men’s road race. Also competing in the event is Ignatas Konovalovas whom will compete in his third Olympics (2004, 2008). Daiva Tuslaite will compete in the women’s road race.

Other athletes to look out for include 2014 Weightlifting World Championship bronze medalist Aurimas Didzbalis (men’s -94kg) and 2014 Wrestling World Championship bronze medalist and 2012 Olympian Edgaras Venckaitis (men’s Greco-Roman -66kg).

Other returning Olympians include 2012 Olympian Juozas Bernotas (sailing, men’s RS:X) and 2008 Olympic silver medalist and 2012 Olympian Gintare Scheidt (sailing, women’s laser radial).

Other sports Lithuania will compete in include; artistic gymnastics (Robert Tvorogal, men’s events), judo (Santa Pakenyte, women’s +78kg), shooting (Ronaldas Racinskas, men’s skeet) and tennis (Ricardas Berankis, men’s singles).

Overall Lithuania will compete with 67 athletes in 15 sports. This will be their second largest group heading into the Olympics. Unlike some nations Lithuania’s medal chances are over a number of sports, including, but not limited to; basketball, modern pentathlon, rowing and swimming.

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.

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.

Cycling Road: Women’s Olympic Rankings Published

The Union Cycliste Internationale has published the Women’s Olympic Qualification Rankings which are used to allocate the majority of competitors in women’s road race and time trial. Athletes can earn points for their nation in UCI approved events. For the women’s road race initially the top 5 nations earn four athlete quotas, nations ranked 6th to 13th earn three quotas and nations ranked 14th to 22nd earn two quotas. However, if an athlete is ranked in the top 100 in the individual rankings and their nation did not qualify through the nation rankings they will earn their nation a maximum of one quota. The quota is subtracted from the lowest ranked nations (those nations can only lose a maximum of one quota). For the time trial the top 15 nations from the rankings will be allowed to send one athlete which has qualified from the road race. The Women’s Olympic Qualification Rankings are calculated from various events held from June 1st 2015 to May 31st 2016.

For the women’s road race the women’s individual rankings contained 12 nations where athletes finished in the top 100, but their nation did not finished in the top 22 in the nation rankings. They are Chinese Taipei (Huang Ting Ying), Norway (Emile Moberg), Brazil (Flavia Oliveira), Azerbaijan (Olena Pavlukhina), Thailand (Jutatip Maneephan), Austria (Martina Ritter), Slovenia (Polana Batagelj), Lithuania (Daiva Tuslaite), Cyprus (Antri Christoforou), Israel (Shani Bloch), Japan (Mayuko Hagiwara) and Chile (Paola Munoz). This has caused nations ranked from 11 to 22 to lose one quota. Netherlands, United States, Italy, Australia and Germany qualified four athlete quotas. Poland, Sweden, Great Britain, Canada and Belgium qualified three athlete quotas. France, South Africa and Luxembourg qualified two athlete quotas. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Finland, Cuba, New Zealand, Mexico, Switzerland and Spain qualified one athlete quota. Since Cuba qualified through the nation rankings its continental qualifier quota was reallocated to the next best ranked eligible nation from the Pan American qualifier, specifically Venezuela. Also since Brazil qualified one quota through the rankings one of their host quota will be reallocated to the highest ranked nation not yet qualified, Colombia.

The nations which qualified through the women’s time trial are as follows; Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States. As a reminder these nations do not gain an athlete quota, they must use athletes which were qualified from the road race. Due to this rule both the Czech Republic and Russia which qualified quotas from the 2015 World Championship do not have enough athletes to fill that spot. The quotas have now been reallocated to the next highest eligible ranked nation from the event, specifically Japan and Sweden.

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify to the Olympics in all disciplines of cycling. All that is left is for nations to confirm the quotas in which they were given.

 

Athletes by Nations

• Australia – 4
• Germany – 4
• Italy – 4
• Netherlands – 4
• United States – 4
• Belgium – 3
• Canada – 3
• Great Britain – 3
• Poland – 3
• Sweden – 3
• France – 2
• Luxembourg – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Austria – 1
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Brazil – 1
• Chile – 1
• Chinese Taipei – 1
• Colombia – 1
• Cuba – 1
• Cyprus – 1
• Finland – 1
• Israel – 1
• Japan – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Mexico – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• Norway – 1
• Russia – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• Spain – 1
• Switzerland – 1
• Thailand – 1
• Ukraine – 1

 

References

• UCI. Athletes quota for road cycling women’s events. Access on June 1 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.

Badminton: Tripartite Quotas Announced

Badminton World Federation has announced the tripartite quotas for badminton. Tripartite quotas are given to nations which have qualified less than an average of eight athletes in individual events over the past two Olympics. Originally three men’s singles and three women’s singles spots were available, however, only the men’s quotas were given out. Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne, Suriname’s Soren Opti and Brunei’s Jaspar Yu were the athletes selected to compete in the men’s singles.

The tripartite quotas for the women’s singles have since been reallocated to the next highest ranked athletes in the Olympic Rankings. Specifically the following athletes qualified to the Olympics; Estonia’s Kati Tolmoff, Hungary’s Laura Sarosi and Lithuania’s Akvile Stapusaityte.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Brunei – 1
• Estonia – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Sri Lanka – 1
• Suriname – 1

 

References

• BWF. Trio Get Rio 2016 Tripartite Places. Access on May 25 2016.

Wrestling: 1st World Qualifier Qualifies 28 Nations

28 nations qualified at least one athlete at the 1st World Wrestling Qualification Tournament. The top three athletes from the men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman and the top two athletes from the women’s freestyle qualified their nations to the Olympics. The 1st World Wrestling Qualification Tournament was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from April 22nd to April 24th 2016.

Belarus topped the Greco-Roman events by winning two gold medals. Aliaksandr Hrabovik defeated Georgia’s Revazi Nadareishvili in the -98kg while Javid Hamzatau defeated Armenia’s Maksim Manukyan in the -85kg. Armenia secured a second quota in the -75kg where Arsen Julfalakyan won the third place bout. The -75kg was won by Hungary’s Peter Bacsi in a walkover after China’s Yang Bin withdrew. China’s Meng Qiang also withdrew in the -130kg to give Iran’s Amir Ghasemi the victory. Uzbekistan’s Muminjon Abdullaev won the third place bout while his compatriot Elmurat Tasmuradov won the play-off match in the -59kg. The -59kg was won by South Korea’s Kim Seung-Kak whom defeated Norway’s Stig Andre Berge. Romania’s Ion Panait won the -66kg event over Finland’s Tero Valimaki. Lithuania’s Edgaras Venckaitis won the third place bout. Sweden also qualified two athletes in the third place bouts via Zakarias Berg in the -85kg and Fredrik Schon in the -98kg.

The United States qualified two athletes in the women freestyle events. In the -53kg Helen Maroulis defeated Greece Maria Prevolaraki while Haley Augello lost to North Korea’s Kim Hyon-Gyong in the -48kg. Hungary also qualified two athletes to the Olympics, but lost both of their final bouts. In the -63kg Marianna Sastin had to withdraw giving Turkey’s Hafize Sahin the victory while Zsanett Nemeth lost to France’s Cynthia Vescan in the final of the -75kg. The -58kg was won by Ecuador’s Lissette Antes whom defeated Germany’s Luisa Niemesch while the -69kg was won by Israel’s Ilana Kratysh whom defeated Venezuela’s Maria Acosta in the final. This will Israel’s first female wrestler to compete at the Olympics.

The final day contained results from the men’s freestyle events. In the -65kg it was Bahrain’s Adam Batirov whom defeated Georgia’s Zurabi Iakobishvili in the final. Third place bout winner Yakup Gor of Turkey also qualified to the Olympics. Turkey ended up qualifying a second quota as they won the -74kg event over Bulgaria’s Georgi Ivanov. Moldova’s Evgheni Nedealco also qualified to the Olympics by winning the third place bout. Moldova won a second third place bout through Nicolae Ceban in the -97kg event. The event was won by Armenia’s Georgy Ketoyev whom defeated Uzbekistan’s Magomed Ibragimov. The -86kg event was won by J’den Cox of the United States who defeated Venezuela’s Pedro Ceballos in the final. The third place bout was won by Poland’s Zbigniew Baranowski. Poland won a second third place bout with Robert Baran in the -125kg event. The event was won by China’s Deng Zhiwei in a walkover against Hungary’s Daniel Ligeti. The -57kg event was won by Romania’s Ivan Guidea whom defeated Azerbaijan’s Mirjalal Hasanzada in the final. The third place bout was won by Sandeep Tomar of India.

With this competition Azerbaijan and Georgia will be sending full men’s freestyle teams. Unqualified nations will get one more opportunity to qualify to the Olympics at a second world qualification tournament due to be held in May.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Hungary – 4
• Armenia – 3
• China – 3
• Turkey – 3
• United States – 3
• Uzbekistan – 3
• Belarus – 2
• Georgia – 2
• Moldova – 2
• Poland – 2
• Romania – 2
• Sweden – 2
• Venezuela – 2
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Bahrain – 1
• Bulgaria – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Finland – 1
• France – 1
• Germany – 1
• Greece – 1
• India – 1
• Iran – 1
• Israel – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Norway – 1
• North Korea – 1
• South Korea – 1

 

References

• UWW. 1st Olympic Games World Qualifying Tournament – Schedule and Results. Access on April 24 2016.

Gymnastics: Test Event Decide Remaining Quotas

France and Germany qualified a full artistic team, Germany and Uzbekistan qualified both an individual and team in rhythmic gymnastics and Portugal and the United States qualified an athlete in both genders in trampoline at the 2016 Gymnastics Olympic Test Event. The Olympic test event featured all three disciplines in gymnastics. In artistic gymnastics the top four all-around teams will qualify along with eligible all-around individuals until the total quota of 97 men and 97 women have been met including continental representation. In trampoline eight quotas for each gender are available to the top eligible athletes, including continental representation. Two of these quotas are meant for the host Brazil and the tripartite though gender is not specified. In rhythmic gymnastics the top three all-around teams and the top nine all-around individuals, including continental representation will qualify. The Gymnastics Olympic Test Event was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from April 16th to April 22nd 2016.

 

Artistic

In the men’s team all-around competition it was Germany whom led all nations with a score of 350.609. After a relatively weak floor performance the team posted top three results in all of the other apparatuses including a top performance in the parallel bars. Ukraine followed close behind with a final score of 350.160. The team had a good performance at the beginning including a very strong first place in the pommel horse, but ultimately lost pace to Germany. The other two nations which booked a team spot were the Netherlands who will compete in the men’s team event for the first time in its history and France. Inconsistencies including a horrible start on the pommel horse ultimately cost Spain a spot in the team event.

Nations which competed in the team event, but did not qualify are eligible to pick any athlete to compete at the Olympics. These nations are Romania, Spain, Belgium and Canada. Continental representation (1 for Oceania, 2 for other continents) was not met for Africa as only one athlete qualified through the test event. This meant the highest ranked African athlete from the 2015 World Championship, Algeria’s Mohamed Bourguieg qualified to the Olympics. Nations which had two athletes competing and both athletes finishing higher than the lowest ranked qualifier will have the opportunity to pick which one of the two athletes will compete. These nations are Colombia, Mexico and Hungary.

The following athletes are qualified to the Olympics based on the order from the individual all-around event; Andrey Likhovitskiy (Belarus), Alexander Shatilov (Isarael), Ferhat Arican (Turkey), Artur Davtyan (Armenia), Randy Leru (Cuba), Filip Ude (Croatia), Petro Pakhnyuk (Azerbaijan), Anton Fokin (Uzbekistan), Oskar Kirmes (Finland), Ludovico Edalli (Italy), Stian Skjerahaug (Norway), David Jessen (Czech Republic), Robert Tvorogal (Lithuania), Pham Phuoc Hung (Vietnam), Marios Georgiou (Cyprus), Kieran Behan (Ireland), Vlasios Maras (Greece), Gustavo Palma Simoes (Portugal), Mikhail Koudinoc (New Zealand), Ryan Patterson (South Africa), Tomas Gonzalez (Chile) and Lee Chih Kai (Chinese Taipei).

The women’s team all-around event was topped by Brazil whom finished with a score of 226.477. The team had a great performance, finishing first in the balance beam, floor and vault. Despite a poor performance on the uneven bars second place Germany was unable to close the gap completely, finishing with an overall score of 223.977. Also qualifying to the Olympics are Belgium and France. In one of the most shocking news in gymnastics Romania, medalists at every Olympics since 1976 will not be sending a team as a poor uneven bars contributed to their seventh place finish.

Nations which competed in the team event, but did not qualify are eligible to choose any athlete to compete at the Olympics. These nations are Australia, Switzerland, Romania and South Korea. Continental representation (1 for Oceania, 2 for the other continents) was not met for Africa as no athletes were qualified at the end of the test event. This meant the highest ranked African athletes from the 2015 World Championships, specifically; Algeria’s Farah Boufadene and South Africa’s Claudia Cummins have qualified to the Olympics. Nations which had two athletes competing and both athletes finishing higher than the lowest ranked qualifier will have the opportunity to pick which one of two athletes will compete. These nations are Greece, Hungary, Spain, Mexico and Poland.

The following athletes are qualified to the Olympics based on the order from the individual all-around event; Ana Sofia Gomez (Guatemala), Jessica Lopez Arocha (Venezuela), Angelina Kysla (Ukraine), Marcia Vidiaux (Cuba), Filipa Martins (Portugal), Lisa Ecker (Austria), Toni-Ann Williams (Jamaica), Irina Sazonova (Iceland), Phan Thu Ha Thanh (Vietnam), Dipa Karmakar (India), Barbora Mokosova (Slovakia), Courtney McGregor (New Zealand), Oksana Chusovitina (Uzbekistan), Houry Gebeshian (Armenia), Ariana Orrego (Peru), Simona Castro (Chile), Teja Belak (Slovenia), Tutya Yilmaz (Turkey), Emma Larsson (Sweden), Marisa Dick (Trinidad and Tobago), Ana Derek (Croatia), Catalina Escobar Gomez (Colombia), Kylie Dickson (Belarus), Ellis O’Reilly (Ireland) and Ailen Valente (Argentina).

 

Trampoline

The qualification round of the women’s trampoline was topped by Li Dan of China whom scored 102.480 after her two performances. In the final however, Li had a subpar performance and finished in fifth. The event was instead won by her compatriot Liu Lingling whom finished with a score of 55.485. China along with Belarus has already previously qualified to the Olympics while other nations were allowed to only qualify one athlete. The Olympic quotas went to Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Uzbekistan, Germany, Portugal and the United States. While the last spot is expected to go to a tripartite nation it will likely eventually be reallocated to the next best ranked nation, France.

Before the competition began Brazil declared that it will use its host quota on the men’s trampoline, leaving the men one fewer qualification spot. The qualification round of the men’s trampoline was topped by China’s Gao Lei whom scored 110.660 after his two performances. A mistake and a fall in the final cost Gao the event as he finished in eighth. The winner of the event was Belarus’ Uladzislau Hancharou whom finished with a score of 59.750. China along with Belarus has already previously qualified to the Olympics while other nations were allowed to only qualify one athlete. The Olympic quotas went to New Zealand, Portugal, United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and as mentioned before Brazil obtained a quota for being the host nation. While the last spot is currently reserved for a tripartite nation it could potentially be reallocation to the next best ranked nation, Kazakhstan.

 

Rhythmic

The qualification round of the individual all-around was led by Belarus’ Melitina Staniouta whom finished with the top score in all four rotations for a total of 72.215 points. However, Belarus has already qualified to the Olympics. The following athletes qualified to the Olympics; Sabina Ashirbayeva (Kazakhstan), Nicol Ruprecht (Austria), Veronica Berolini (Italy), Ekaterina Volkova (Finland), Anastasiya Serdyukova (Uzbekistan), Ana Luiza Filiorianu (Romania), Shang Rong (China) and Jana Berezko-Marggrander. Also since Oceania did not qualify an athlete Australia’s Danielle Prince has been given a continental quota. An African quota will be given either through the tripartite commission or through the best ranked athlete from the 2015 World Championships (South Africa). In addition Brazil announced that it will use its host quota on Natalia Gaudio. The final was again topped by Staniouta whom finished with a score of 70.749.

A direct final for the team all-around was held. Germany won the event by being the best team in the two rotations finishing with a score of 33.183. The other two Olympic quotas went to silver medalist Uzbekistan (32.832) and bronze medalist Greece (31.982).

This was the final opportunity for nations to qualify to the Olympics in gymnastics. All that is remaining is to decide on the tripartite places. Overall China and Russia will be sending the largest teams with 20 athletes each while Japan and the United States will also compete in all of the events.

 

Athletes by Nations

• Germany – 16
• France – 10
• Uzbekistan – 9
• Greece – 7
• Ukraine – 7
• Belgium – 6
• Brazil – 5
• Netherlands – 5
• Portugal – 4
• Australia – 3
• New Zealand – 3
• Romania – 3
• Algeria – 2
• Armenia – 2
• Austria – 2
• Belarus – 2
• Canada – 2
• Chile – 2
• Colombia – 2
• Croatia – 2
• Cuba – 2
• Finland – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Ireland – 2
• Italy – 2
• Mexico – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Spain – 2
• Turkey – 2
• United States – 2
• Vietnam – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Azerbaijan – 1
• China – 1
• Chinese Taipei – 1
• Cyprus – 1
• Czech Republic – 1
• Great Britain – 1
• Guatemala – 1
• Iceland – 1
• India – 1
• Israel – 1
• Jamaica – 1
• Japan – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1
• Lithuania – 1
• Norway – 1
• Peru – 1
• Poland – 1
• Russia – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• Slovenia – 1
• South Korea – 1
• Sweden – 1
• Switzerland – 1
• Trinidad and Tobago – 1
• Venezuela – 1

 

References

• FIG. Final Gymnastics Qualifier (Test Event) – Schedule and Results. Access on April 22 2016.