Golf: IGF Confirms Field After Late Changes

The International Golf Federation has announced an updated list of qualified athletes. Some quotas where denied by their federation while others were due to later withdrawals. In total three men and three women have been replaced.

On the women’s side the Netherlands declined both of their quotas while New Zealand also declined Cathryn Bristow’s quota. During the reallocation process Philippines’ Dottie Ardina withdrew. The three reallocated quotas went to Victoria Lovelady (Brazil), Stephanie Meadow (Ireland) and Maha Haddioui (Morocco)

On the men’s side Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Francesco Molinari (Italy) and Angelo Que (Philippines) withdrew and have been replaced by Matteo Manassero (Italy), Rodolfo Cazaubon (Mexico) and Jose-Filipe Lima (Portugal).

 

Net Changes by Nations

• Brazil – 1
• Ireland – 1
• Mexico – 1
• Morocco – 1
• Portugal – 1
• Italy – 0
• Colombia – -1
• New Zealand – -1
• Philippines – -1
• Netherlands – -2

 

References

• IGF. Fields confirmed for Olympic Games golf competitions. Access on July 19 2016.

Boxing: 29 Nations Qualify After World Qualification Tournament

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

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

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

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

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

 

Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

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

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.

Weightlifting: African Nations Qualify After Continental Championship

African nations booked their spot to the Olympics with the conclusion of the 2016 African Weightlifting Championship. The six highest ranking men and the four highest ranking women from nations not yet qualified earned points towards their nation’s ranking. The top five nations in the men and the top four nations in the women in the rankings qualified one athlete to the Olympics. The African Weightlifting Championship was held in Yaounde, Cameroon from May 7th to May 13th 2016.

In the women’s events it was Nigeria which showed its strength by winning four gold medals in the -58kg, -63kg, -75kg and +75kg events to finish with a maximum total of 112 points. Tunisia followed in second place with a gold medal in the -53kg and multiple silver medals, ending with a total of 103 points. Cameroon finished in third with 94 points while Algeria rounded out the quotas in fourth place with 93 points.

Several registered athletes and even nations failed to appear in the men’s events leading to only five nations sending at least six athletes meaning should they all finish with a lift they were all guaranteed an Olympic quota. The event was topped by Algeria and Tunisia whom both finished with 159 points as they both finished on top in the list of eligible nations in three events and runner-up in three others. A strong performance by Cameroon had the team finish with 144 points while Morocco and Ghana rounded out the top five with 133 and 122 points respectively.

Unqualified nations could still potentially qualify to the Olympics through the individual world rankings through currently no one is in the top 15 for men or 10 for women in the rankings, a prerequisite for qualifying to the Olympics. Two more continental qualifiers remain with Oceania scheduled for the end of this month.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Algeria – 2
• Cameroon – 2
• Tunisia – 2
• Ghana – 1
• Morocco – 1
• Nigeria – 1

 

References

• IWF. 2016 African Weightlifting Championship – Results. Access on May 13 2016.

Boxing: AIBA Confirms Continental Qualifiers

AIBA has provided an update of athletes qualified via the continental qualifiers. Overall two changes have been made. In the men’s -56kg Morocco has not accepted the quota won by Mohamed Hamout thus the quota has been reallocated to fourth place finisher Abdul Omar of Ghana. Similarly in the men’s +91kg Tunisia has not accepted the quota won by Aymen Trabelsi thus the quota has been reallocated to fourth place finisher Davilson Morais of Cape Verde.

 

References

• AIBA. 135 quota places for Rio 2016 booked through the four AIBA Continental Olympic Qualification Tournaments. Access on April 25 2016.

Wrestling: African/Oceania Tournament Concludes With 9 Qualified Nations

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

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

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

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

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

 

Quotas by Nations

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

 

References

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

Boxing: 13 Nations Qualify After African Championship

13 nations qualified at least one athlete at the 2016 African Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament. The three highest ranked male boxers along with the highest ranked female boxer qualified to the Olympics. The African Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Yaounde, Cameroon from March 11th to March 19th 2016.

Overall 181 athletes from 30 nations competed in 10 men’s and 3 women’s weight classes. The first day of finals saw the result of six men’s events. Cameroon and Morocco led the day by qualifying in three events each. Cameroon won the gold medal in the men’s light flyweight (-49kg) and middleweight (-75kg) also 2008 Olympian Mahaman Smaila will return to the Olympics in the men’s light welterweight (-64kg). Despite not winning events on the first day of finals Morocco qualified in the men’s bantamweight (-56kg), light welterweight and middleweight. Tunisia won the men’s bantamweight and qualified in the men’s heavyweight (-91kg), Namibia won the men’s lightwelterweight and qualified in the light flyweight, Algeria won the men’s light heavyweight (-81kg) and qualified in the heavyweight and Mauritius won the men’s heavyweight and qualified in the middleweight. Other qualifiers included Egypt in the light heavyweight, Lesotho in the bantamweight, South Africa in the light flyweight and Uganda in the light heavyweight.

Morocco swept the women’s events by winning gold in all three events and claiming the three quotas. In the women’s flyweight (-51kg) Zohra Ez-Zahraoui defeated Nigeria’s Caroline Linus, in the lightweight (-60kg) Hasnaa Lachgar defeated Tunisia’s Hlimi Khouloud and in the middleweight (-75kg) Khadija El Mardi defeated Cameroon’s Azangue Yannicke.

On the second day of finals for men Algeria was the big winner for Olympic quotas despite not winning an event. Algeria qualified in the men’s flyweight (-52kg) with 2015 World Championship bronze medalist Mohamed Flissi, the lightweight (-60kg) and the welterweight (-69kg). Egypt won gold in the lightweight and also qualified in the welterweight. The other gold medalists were Kenya in the welterweight, Nigeria in the super heavyweight (+91kg) and South Africa in the flyweight. Other nations which qualified to the Olympics included Morocco in the super heavyweight, Seychelles in the lightweight, Tunisia in the super heavyweight and Uganda in the flyweight.

As a reminder South Africa has a policy of not accepting quotas won at the continental level, therefore should they decline the quotas they would be reallocated to Kenya in the light flyweight and Lesotho in the flyweight. There are still a few more opportunities for African nations to qualify their athletes to the Olympics.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Morocco – 7
• Algeria – 5
• Cameroon – 3
• Egypt – 3
• Tunisia – 3
• Mauritius – 2
• Namibia – 2
• South Africa – 2
• Uganda – 2
• Kenya – 1
• Lesotho – 1
• Nigeria – 1
• Seychelles – 1

 

References

• AIBA. 2016 African Olympic Qualification Tournament Results. Access on March 20 2016.

Equestrian: Olympic Rankings Published But Dispute Remains

24 nations qualified at least one athlete from the Equestrian Olympic Rankings; however one ranking dispute still remains. Individuals not yet qualified to the Olympics were eligible to qualify their nation based on the rankings, provided that the nation has not reached its maximum quota. For the three disciplines there were three types of ranking lists, one for each of the seven groups; Group A (North, Western Europe), Group B (South, Western Europe), Group C (Central & Eastern Europe, Central Asia), Group D (North America, English Caribbean), Group E (Central & South America), Group F (Africa & Middle East) and Group G (South, East Asia, Oceania), another list combined some groups; Group A/B/C, Group D/E and Group F/G and a final overall list. The Equestrian Olympic Rankings contained various eligible events held from March 9th 2015 to March 6th 2016 for dressage and eventing and January 1st 2015 to March 6th 2016 for jumping.

In dressage the top two from Groups A, B and C, the highest ranked nation from Groups D, E, F and G and the top six from the overall list, with a maximum of four from the same nation qualified to the Olympics.

With the updated rankings the following nations won a spot from the group rankings, Denmark (2), Austria, Belgium, Russia (2), Canada, Dominican Republic, Palestine and New Zealand. These nations qualified from the overall ranking; Denmark (2), Ireland, Italy and Switzerland. Since Denmark qualified four riders they will be eligible to enter the team competition as a composite team. One more individual spot is open, but there is a dispute between Poland and Ukraine about the results of a certain event which would have qualification implications.

For eventing the highest ranked nation from each individual group, the top two from Groups A/B/C, D/E and F/G and the top eight from the overall list, with a maximum of four from the same nation qualified to the Olympics.

With the updated rankings the following nations won a spot from the group rankings, Finland, Italy, Russia, Chile, Zimbabwe and Japan. Since Group D did not have any eligible nations they quota has been reallocated to the overall ranking list. The following nations qualified from the combined group list, Belarus, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, China and Japan. The following nations qualified from the overall rankings, Belgium (2), Italy (2), Russia (2), Spain and Switzerland (2). Since Italy, Russia and Switzerland qualified three riders each they will be eligible to enter the team competition as composite teams.

The Olympic quotas for jumping went to the highest ranked nation from Groups A, B, C and F and the top four from the overall list, with a maximum of two from the same nation.

From the four groups the following nations qualified; Ireland, Portugal, Turkey and Morocco while from the overall rankings it was Belgium (2), Egypt and Italy whom qualified spots for their nations.

The ranking dispute between Poland and Ukraine in dressage will hopefully be settled soon. This was the final opportunity to qualify in equestrian. Overall several nations such as the Dominican Republic, Palestine and Zimbabwe will be making their Olympic debut in this sport.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Belgium – 5
• Italy – 5
• Russia – 5
• Denmark – 4
• Switzerland – 4
• Ireland – 2
• Japan – 2
• Austria – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Canada – 1
• Chile – 1
• China – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Egypt – 1
• Finland – 1
• Morocco – 1
• New Zealand – 1
• Palestine – 1
• Portugal – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• Spain – 1
• Turkey – 1
• Zimbabwe – 1

 

References

• FEI. List of qualified nations. Access on March 10 2016.

Taekwondo: 10 Nations Qualify After African Qualifers

Ten nations, including two which will be making their Olympic debut in the sport qualified to the Olympics at the conclusion of the 2016 African Olympic Qualification Tournament. The two finalists were given spots to compete at the Olympics. Nations must also respect the maximum quota of 2 men and 2 women across all qualification methods. The African Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Agadir, Morocco from February 6th to February 7th 2016.

The first day had four events. The women’s -49kg had one of the biggest surprises in the tournament as Cape Verde’s Maria Andrade grabbed one of the two spots. Her path was quite difficult as she had to go defeat African Games silver medalist (-46kg) Fadia Farhani of Tunisia 4-1. The second quota went to Congo DR’s Rosa Keleku as she defeated Ethiopia’s Nardos Chifra 6-3 in the semi-finals. Keleku defeated Andrade 3-2 to win the tournament. Both of these nations will be making their Olympic debut in taekwondo.

The men’s -58kg also had a large upset as African Games gold medalist Romain Trolliet was defeated in the quarter-finals by judge’s decision against Lesotho’s Marumo Moloisane after the match was tied 2-2. Moloisane failed to grab the Olympic quota as he lost subsequently to Morocco’s Omar Hajjami 3-0. The second Olympic spot went to Libya’s Yousef Shriha as he defeated Ethiopia’s Sisay Baykedagne 8-5. Hajjami won the tournament defeating Shriha 6-3.

There were no upsets in the women’s -67kg as both Seham El-Sawalhy of Egypt and Cote d’Ivoire’s Ruth Gbagbi repeated their performance from 2012 and qualified to the Olympics. Gbagbi went all out in the final and defeated El-Sawalhy 10-4 to win the event.

The first quota of the men’s +80kg was won by African Games +87kg gold medalist Abdoul-Razak Issoufou of Niger whom defeated former Olympian Daba Keita of Mali and +87kg 2015 World silver medalist Firmin Zokou of Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 and 10-9 respectively. The second spot went to Tunisia’s Yassine Trabelsi whom defeated Central African Republic Remy Alazoula 6-1 in the semi-finals. Trabelsi defeated Issoufou 1-0 to win the tournament.

On the second day in the women’s +67kg it was 2012 Olympian Wiam Dislam of Morocco whom secured the first quota by defeating Nigeria’s Uzoamaka Otuadinma. The second spot went to fellow finalist Mamina Kone of Cote d’Ivoire whom defeated Aminata Doumbia of Mali. The tournament title went to Kone as she defeated Dislam.

In the men’s -68kg the referee had to stop the fight between Senegal’s Balla Dieye against Nigeria’s Edwin Samson due to a hard kick to the head. This gave Dieye a spot in the final and an Olympic quota. The second quota went to 2015 African Games champion Ghofan Zaki of Egypt whom defeated 2012 Olympian David Boui of Central African Republic 7-1. Zaki won the tournament over Dieye in a close 2-1 encounter.

The biggest upset of the day occurred in the women’s -57kg where top seed Bineta Diedhiou was defeated in the quarter-finals by Morocco’s Hakima El-Meslahy. El-Meslahy would go on to reach the finals and obtain a quota for her nation by defeating Chinazum Mwosu of Nigeria. The other semi-final was between Tunisia’s Rahma Ben Ali and Ghana’s Danielle Pelham. Ben Ali won the match and reached the final. The final was a very defensive encounter and the match was judged by the judges after the match ended in a 1-1 draw. El-Meslahy was declared the victor.

The first Olympic quota in the men’s -80kg went to Tunisia’s Oussama Oueslati as he easily defeated Senegal’s Gorome Kare 16-6. The second quota was won by 2015 World bronze medalist in the -74kg category Ismael Coulibaly of Mali whom defeated 2014 Youth Olympic bronze medalist Seif Eissa of Egypt 8-3. The title went to Oueslati as he defeated Coulibaly 2-0 for the title.

This was the final opportunity for African nations to qualify in taekwondo. The remaining spots will be filled by athletes from Oceania, Pan America and Asia over the coming weeks.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Morocco – 3
• Tunisia – 3
• Egypt – 2
• Ivory Coast – 2
• Cape Verde – 1
• Congo DR – 1
• Libya – 1
• Mali – 1
• Niger – 1
• Senegal – 1

 

References

• WTF. African Qualification Tournament For Rio 2016 – Day 1. Access on February 7 2015.
• WTF. African Qualification Tournament For Rio 2016 – Day 2. Access on February 7 2015.