Olympic qualification period ends 1 May 2016

Jij het nieuws, wij een tikkie!

The World Ranking list of 5th May will be the list which determines the qualification places and it is BWF's intention to write to Member Associations with the qualification list by Monday 9th May.

The Race to Rio rankings on www.bwfbadminton.com have been a great innovation and keenly followed by many players and fans but please note that in both singles events four places may be allocated for IOC Tripartite Commission (3) and Host Country (1), meaning a potential maximum of 8 places being allocated. The IOC Tripartite Commission and Host Country positions will depend on the final qualification and it has not been possible to predict if and how many of these positions will be allocated. If not allocated through the Tripartite Commission or Host Country process, these positions will be allocated according to the World Ranking.

The IOC have until 11th May to confirm whether they will take up all the tripartite positions or not although we hope to be notified earlier. If the hosts qualify as of right in singles then this supersedes the reserved Host Country places. If there are players in more than one event (for example men's and mixed doubles) this may add more places to singles. For comparison, in London there were 40 men's singles and 46 women's singles positions, but there will likely be less positions in singles during the upcoming qualification process.

As none of the Tripartite Commission or Host Country positions has been confirmed at this time, the Race to Rio rankings should be viewed as having a minimum of 34 available slots allocated. Players who are presently shown in qualification positions 35-38 are therefore subject to confirmation of the final number of Tripartite Commission and Host Country positions, and also subject to more places being added if players qualify in more than one event.

Although this has long been part of the regulations and there is a note to this effect on the rankings, we have had reports that some players do not realise the implication of the tripartite and host places and may believe they are in qualifying positions when this is not the case.

Please make sure your players understand how the qualification system works.

We look forward to issuing the invitations to qualified players in May.

Darren Parks
Events Director