Additional Rio qualifying news trickles in

The Sri Lanka Badminton Association announced yesterday that Portuguese International Series winner Niluka Karunaratne had been awarded a spot in the Rio Olympics through the Tripartite Commission.  Niluka was one of two Sri Lankan representatives in London four years ago and he scored an opening round upset when he beat then world #8 Kenichi Tago.

Five Tripartite Commission places for the badminton competitions in Rio remain unaccounted for – two in men’s singles and three in women’s.  The Badminton World Federation (BWF) rules indicated that they would be announced together with the May 5th world rankings that marked the end of the Olympic qualifying period.  However, the BWF still has not made any information public.  In 2012, only two of a possible six places were allocated to nations that applied via the Tripartite Commission and the remaining four – including all three such places in women’s singles – were reallocated to singles players on the reserve lists.

Photo: Yohan Nonotte / Badmintonphoto