Boxing: Professional Athletes Qualified at APB/WSB Qualifier

The final qualification quotas were decided at the 2016 APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Event. At this tournament boxers from AIBA Pro Boxing and World Series of Boxing are allowed to compete. In addition, with the late ruling allowing full professional boxers to compete this will be the only opportunity for them to qualify to the Olympics. In total the highest ranked boxers from the men’s heavyweight and super heavyweight qualified to the Olympics while for the other eight weight classes the top three athletes qualified to the Olympics. The APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Event was held in Vargas, Venezuela from July 3rd to July 8th 2016.

The late rule change to allow all professional boxers was met with some controversy with some nations declaring it was unfair to change the rules this late with some nations refusing to allow professionals to compete even if they had space on the team. Pro boxing organisations also threatened suspensions for athletes whom choose to compete in the Olympics. In the end only a small group of professionals actually competed. Two of the most prominent pros which qualified were Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng in the men’s lightweight (-60kg) and Cameroon’s Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam in the men’s light heavyweight (-81kg). Both actually lost their final match with Mexico’s Lindolfo Delgado defeating Ruenroeng and Colombia’s Juan Carlos Carrillo defeating N’Jikam. Also qualifying in those weights were Italy’s Carmine Tommasone (-60kg) and Ukraine’s Denys Soloneko (-81kg).

Mexico was the top performing nation, winning three gold medals. Along with Delgado, Joselito Velazquez defeated Ecuador’s Carlos Quipo in the men’s light flyweight (-49kg) and Juan Pablo Romero won in a walkover against Germany’s Arajik Marutjan in the men’s welterweight (-69kg). Also qualifying were Argentina’s Leandro Blanc in the light flyweight and Spain’s Youba Sissokho in the welterweight.

While Mexico won the most gold medals Venezuela qualified the most athletes, with four in total. Overall they won two events; Yoel Finol Rivas defeated Germany’s Hamza Touba in the men’s flyweight (-52kg), Colombia’s Ceiber Avila finished third and Edgar Munoz won the only available spot in the men’s super heavyweight (+91kg) with his win over Ukraine’s Rostyslav Arkhypenko. Also qualifying for Venezuela was Endry Jose Pinto whom lost to Ecuador’s Marlo Delgado in the men’s middleweight (-75kg), Turkey’s Onder Sipal won the third quota and Victor Rodriguez grabbed the third quota in the men’s bantamweight (-56kg). The winner of that event was Kenya’s Benson Gicharu whom won in a walkover against Dominican Republic’s Hector Garcia.

 

In the men’s light welterweight (-64kg) Armenia’s Hovhannes won in a technical knock-out over Qatar’s Thulasi Tharumalingam. The third quota for that event went to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Matviychuk whom won in a walk-over against Argentina’s Carlos Daniel Aquino. The lone quota in the men’s heavyweight (-91kg) went to Ecuador’s Julio Cesar Castillo whom defeated Croatia’s Marko Calic in the final.

 

This was the final opportunity for athletes to qualify in boxing. All that is remaining is for the nations to confirm the quotas and for the tripartite commission to announce the remaining tripartite quotas.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Venezuela – 4
• Ecuador – 3
• Mexico – 3
• Colombia – 2
• Germany – 2
• Ukraine – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Armenia – 1
• Cameroon – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Italy – 1
• Kenya – 1
• Qatar – 1
• Spain – 1
• Thailand – 1
• Turkey – 1

 

References

• AIBA. APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Event. Access on July 8 2016.

Beach Volleyball: Australia and Qatar Win AVC Continental Cup Final

Australia and Qatar booked their tickets to the Olympics after victories at the AVC Continental Cup Final. The Continental Cup features nations with two teams each facing off against each other. Each nation designates a team 1 and a team 2. In the first two matches team 1 faces off against the other nation’s team 2. In the event that the series is split a final match using any team is played. In total 8 nations faced off against each other in a single elimination tournament. The winner of the Asian/Oceania Continental Cup qualifies to the Olympics. The final of the Beach Volleyball Asian/Oceania Continental Cup was held in Cairns, Australia from June 24th to June 26th 2016.

In the women’s quarter-final, China, Vanuatu and Australia all won their matches 2-0 against Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei respectively. It was the match between Japan and Thailand which required three matches where Japan’s top team prevailed over Thailand’s top team in a 2-0 match. Both semi-final matches required a third match as Australia and Vanuatu booked their spot to the final with a 2-1 victory over Japan and China respectively. Australia would go on the claim the sole Olympic berth with a 2-0 victory over Vanuatu. China won the bronze medal after defeating Japan 2-0.

The men’s quarter-final matches had Qatar, Kazakhstan and Australia sweep the series to win over Iran, Japan and Indonesia respectively. China and New Zealand required a third match where China won 2-1. The semi-final saw a bit of an upset as top ranked Australia was defeated 2-0 by China. Qatar also reached the final with a 2-0 victory over Kazakhstan. The final saw Qatar secure the Olympic quota with a 2-0 victory over China. This will be Qatar’s debut in beach volleyball at the Olympics. Kazakhstan won the bronze medal after defeating Australia 2-1.

There will be one more chance for teams to qualify to the Olympics, at the Final Olympic Continental Cup. The top two teams which failed to qualify; China and Kazakhstan for the men and Vanuatu and China for the women will battle it out for the final spots.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Australia – 1
• Qatar – 1

 

References

• FIVB. AVC Men’s Beach Continental Cup Final. Access on June 26 2016.
• FIVB. AVC Women’s Beach Continental Cup Final. Access on June 26 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.

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.

Table Tennis: Asian Athletes Book Their Spots After Asian Qualification Tournament

13 nations qualified athletes at the end of the 2016 Asian Table Tennis Olympic Qualification Tournament. In total 11 quotas for each gender were available for single players. In the first stage players were divided into their five regions (West Asia, Middle Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia) where a single elimination tournament was played with the winner qualifying to the Olympics. The second stage combined all of the unqualified athletes into four brackets where a single elimination tournament was played. The winner of the four brackets qualified to the Olympics while the runner-up played the runner-up of another bracket. The two winners also qualified to the Olympics. The Asian Table Tennis Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Hong Kong, China from April 13th to April 17th 2016.

Qatar’s Ping Li was the top athlete from West Asia where he defeated Saudi Arabia’s Abdulaziz Al-Abbad in the final 4-0. The women’s quota went to Lebanon’s Mariana Sahakian whom defeated her compatriot Malak Khory in the final 4-2.

Middle Asia was won by Iran in both genders. Despite being down 1-3 against Uzbekistan’s Olga Kim Iran’s Neda Shahsavari won the next three sets to win the match in a 4-3 upset. On the men’s side the final came down to two brothers from Iran with Nima Alamian defeating his brother Noshad 4-2.

South Asia only had a single nation competing in both tournaments, India. All that was left to decide was which athlete would book its spot to the Olympics. Due to each tournament only containing four players a round robin was played instead of a single elimination tournament. The women’s tournament was won by top seed Manika Batra though she did suffer a shock 4-2 loss to Pooja Sahasrabudhe along the way. There was an upset in the men’s tournament as top seed Sharath Achanta lost two matches. The winner of the tournament was second seed Soumyajit Ghosh.

The Southeast Asia tournaments were dominated by regional powerhouse Singapore. In fact between the two tournaments seven out of the eight semi-finalists were from Singapore. The winner of the men’s tournament was Chen Feng whom defeated his compatriot Li Hu 4-2 in the final. On the women’s side Singapore’s Feng Tianwei defeated her compatriot Yu Mengyu 4-0 in the final.

Considered to be the strongest region it was China whom won the two East Asia tournaments. The winner of the men’s tournament was Ma Long whom defeated his compatriot Fan Zhendong 4-1. The women’s tournament was won by Li Xiaoxia whom defeated Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa in a 4-0 sweep.

While the second stage was to include the top two (or one should a nation already qualify one) athletes who haven’t qualified from each nation many athletes withdrew from the competition due to mathematically being already qualified to the Olympics through the World Rankings. This allowed several lower qualified athletes to secure their spot to the Olympics.

On the men’s side Draw A was won by Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko whom caused an upset against Hong Kong’s Jiang Tianyi, winning 4-0. Draw B had India’s Sharath Achanta completing a comeback against Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan going from 1-3 to winning 4-3. Draw C was won by Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chien-An whom defeated Thailand’s Padasak Tanviriyavechakul 4-2. Hong Kong’s Ho Kwan Kit won Draw D by defeating Uzbekistan’s Zokhid Kenjaev 4-1. For the final two quotas the losing finalists went up against each other with Alamiyan defeating Jiang 4-1 and Kenjaev defeating Tanviriyavechakul in a close 4-3 match.

For the women’s side it was North Korea and Thailand which won two of the four draws each. North Korea’s Ri Myong Sun defeated India’s Mouma Das 4-0 while her compatriot, Kim Song I defeated Indonesia’s Lilis Indriani 4-0. Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut defeated Uzbekistan’s Rimma Gufranova 4-0 while her compatriot, Nanthana Komwong defeated Philippines’ Ian Lariba in a close 4-3 match. For the final two quotas the losing finalists went up against each other with Das defeating Gufranova 4-1 and Lariba defeating Indriani 4-0.

Athletes from Asia will have one more opportunity to qualify to the Olympics with the publication of the World Rankings in the coming weeks. Since so many top athletes withdrew from the second stage many of them will be booking their spot through that pathway.

 

Quotas by Nations

• India – 4
• Iran – 3
• China – 2
• North Korea – 2
• Singapore – 2
• Thailand – 2
• Chinese Taipei – 1
• Hong Kong – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1
• Lebanon – 1
• Philippines – 1
• Qatar – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1

 

References

• ITTF. 2016 ITTF-Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament. Access on April 16 2016.

Shooting: 15 Nations Qualify After Asian Qualification Event

15 nations qualified at least one quota at the 2016 Asian Olympic Qualification Event. In total 35 quotas were available across the 15 events to the highest ranked eligible shooters, athletes which have not already qualified their nation a quota, respecting the 2 quotas per nation per event rule. More specifically one to women’s trap and women’s skeet, three to men’s 50m rifle 3 position, women’s 50m rifle 3 position and women’s 25m pistol, four to men’s trap and men’s skeet and two to the remaining eight events. Originally the event was supposed to be held in Kuwait City, Kuwait, but the suspension of the Kuwaiti National Olympic Committee meant the event was moved. The Asian Olympic Qualification Event was held in New Delhi, India from January 25th to February 3rd 2016.

The men’s 50m rifle prone was won by South Korea’s Kim Jong-Hyun, a 2012 Olympic silver medalist in the 3 position event. Despite a relatively poor final shot it was enough to finish ahead of Thailand’s Attapon Uae-Aree. Both nations also qualified a quota to the Olympics.

India’s Heena Sidhu was the top ranked shooter in the women’s 10m air pistol, winning the gold and an Olympic quota with a 1.3 point lead. The second Olympic quota went to fourth place finisher Golnoush Sebghatollahi of Iran.

The semi-finals in the women’s trap left three shooters tied at 13 points, requiring a shoot-off. Japan’s Yukie Nakayama grabbed the first spot to the final while a second shoot-off was required to decide the second place. That was when China’s Li Qingnian defeated her compatriot Chen Fang to reach the final. Nakayama would go to win the gold medal in a shoot-out after both athletes were tied, but since she already won a quota for her nation the Olympic spot went to China’s Li.

The men’s 25m rapid fire pistol was won by Teruyoshi Akiyama of Japan. The second quota went to the bronze medalist and Akiyama’s compatriot Eita Mori.

The quotas for the men’s trap were decided at the semi-finals as five eligible shooters competed for the four spots. Currently suspended Kuwait’s Abdulrahman Al Faihan and Chinese Taipei’s Yang Kun-Pi qualified two of the quotas for as they reached the gold medal match by winning a shoot-off. The other two quotas went to India’s Kynan Chenai whom qualified to the bronze medal match and Kazakhstan’s Andrey Mogilevskiy whom finished fifth. Al Faihan won the gold medal by defeating Yang 14-13.

In the men’s 50m pistol it was Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda whom won the gold medal, but since he already won a quota in an earlier event the two spots went to North Korea’s Kim Song-Guk and his compatriot 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Kim Jong-Su.

The women’s 10m air rifle required a shoot-off to decide the gold medal as Iran’s Najmeh Khedmati and India’s Ayonika Paul finished level on points. Khedmati scored 0.2 better than Paul in the shoot-off to win the gold medal. For Paul however the silver medal was enough to qualify her nation to the Olympics. The second spot went to fourth place Lee Eun-Seo of South Korea.

Japan’s Naoya Okada qualified his nation a spot in the men’s 10m air rifle by winning the gold medal. Bronze medalist Pouria Norouzian won the second quota as silver medalist Yuriy Yurkov previously won a spot in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions.

The quotas for the men’s double trap were decided in the semi-finals as United Arab Emirates’ Khaled Al-Kaabi and 2012 Olympic trap bronze medalist Fehaid Al-Deehani of suspended Kuwait qualified their nation. Al-Kaabi won the gold medal by a score of 26-25.

The three medalists in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event all won a quota for a nation. The gold medal went to Singapore’s Jasmine Ser Xiang Wei as she won her nation its first shooting quota. The silver and bronze medals went to Iran’s Mahlagha Jambozorg and South Korea’s Lee Kye-Rim respectively.

Despite sweeping the podium in the women’s 25m pistol South Korea only won one quota because they have previously won a quota in the event. The quota was won by gold medalist Koh Eun. The other two quotas went to fourth place Akiko Sato of Japan and sixth place Shun Xie Teo of Singapore.

The men’s 10m air pistol was won by Malaysia’s Guanjie Wong whom required an excellent final round to defeat Saudi Arabia’s Atallah Al-Anazi. Both shooters qualified their nation its first shooting quotas to the Olympics.

The single quota for women’s skeet was decided at the gold medal match. In the final Japan’s Naoko Ishihara defeated Thailand’s Nutchaya Sutarporn 13-9 to win the gold and Olympic quota.

The quotas for the three Olympic spots in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions were not given out to the medalists as they have all qualified previously. Instead they went to India’s Sanjeev Rajput, Qatar’s Vitaliy Dovgun and Thailand’s Napis Tortungpanich. The gold medal was awarded to Kim Jong-Hyun who won his second gold medal of the championship.

The four quotas in the men’s skeet were decided by virtue of their semi-final appearance. Kuwait’s Saud Habib and his compatriot Abdullah Al-Rashidi, Qatar’s Rashid Hamad and one between United Arab Emirates’ Mohamed Ahmad and Saeed Al-Maktoum which would be decided in the bronze medal match. The gold medal went to Saif Bin Futtais as he defeated Habin 13-12. The bronze medal went to Al-Maktoum as he defeated Aahmad 15-14.

While Kuwait is still suspended by the IOC the nation can still qualify quotas. Should the issue not be solved by the time the Olympics begin the athletes would compete under the Olympic flag. This was the final opportunity for Asian nations to qualify athletes in shooting.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Japan – 5
• India – 4
• Kuwait – 4
• South Korea – 4
• Iran – 3
• North Korea – 2
• Qatar – 2
• Singapore – 2
• Thailand – 2
• United Arab Emirates – 2
• China – 1
• Chinese Taipei – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1
• Malaysia – 1
• Saudi Arabia – 1

 

References

• SIUS. 2016 Asian Olympic Qualification Event Results. Access on February 2 2015.
• ISSF. Quota Places By Nation and Name. Access on February 2 2015.

Handball: Qatar Men Will Make Olympic Debut in Rio

Qatar will debut at the Olympics in men’s handball after winning the Asian Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament. Eleven teams were split into two groups where the top two advanced to the semifinals. The winner of the tournament was given a spot to compete at the Olympics. The Asian Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Doha, Qatar from November 14th to November 17th 2015.

Group A was topped by Bahrain and South Korea as they racked up three wins a piece before facing off each other in the final match of the group. Despite a strong start by South Korea whom led 19-12 at the half it was Bahrain whom controlled the second half of the game to win the group narrowly in a 31-30 victory.

Group B was dominated by world silver medalist Qatar as they won all five of their matches with only Saudi Arabia losing by single digits. Saudi Arabia was unable to extend that performance in its other matches as losses to Iran and Japan cost it a spot in the semifinals. The second place team of the group was Iran whom faced stiff defense by Japan to win the match 31-27.

Iran and Qatar advanced to the finals by having a strong first half as they were able to maintain their lead over Bahrain and Japan respectively to win 35-30 and 30-26 respectively. In the final Iran attempted to gain a sustainable lead, but whenever they pushed Qatar was always there to answer back as Qatar went on to win the tournament 28-19. Bahrain won the bronze medal by defeating South Korea 34-21.

Despite their loss Iran will get a second chance at the final Olympic qualification tournament. Since Asia was the second best continent at the World Championships they were given an additional spot at the final tournament which went to Bahrain.

 

Tournament Rankings

1. Qatar
2. Iran
3. Bahrain
4. South Korea
5. Japan
6. Saudi Arabia
7. Iraq
8. China
9. Oman
10. Australia
11. Uzbekistan

 

References

• AHF. 2015 Asian Men’s Qualification for Olympic Games 2016 Results. Access on November 27 2015.

Equestrian: Qatar Wins 2nd leg of the 2015 Nations Cup Jumping Series

The second leg of the 2015 Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Series held from February 18th to February 21st 2015 also doubled as an Olympic qualifier for nations in the Group F region (Africa and the Middle East). The top Group F nation in the team jumping event will qualify a team to the Olympics.

Qatar took control of the competition in the first round getting only 3 penalty points; the closest rival was France with 6 penalty points while the closest Group F nation was Egypt with 10 penalty points. Qatar continued its impressive performance in the final round winning the Olympic berth and the overall competition with only 5 total penalty points. Second went to Ukraine (19 points) while Egypt finished in third (21 points). This will be the first time Qatar will have a team in jumping.

Qatar winning the team quota has all, but eliminated 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Saudi Arabia from qualifying a team. Unlike in the dressage and eventing disciplines you are not allowed to qualify a composite team as there is a limit of two individual athletes per nation in the individual qualification. The only way for Saudi Arabia to qualify a team would be if Qatar withdraws their team and then Egypt declines to take their spot.

Reference

• FEI. 2015 Nations Cup Jumping Leg 2 Team Results. Access on March 8th 2015.