Australia chooses doubles for Rio, gets one in singles

Phase II lists for the Rio Olympics have been released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and Australia has opted for its doubles qualifiers to take its two continental qualification spots.  Robin Middleton / Leanne Choo, who were ranked 34th in the world on May 5th will be joined in Rio by men’s doubles #46 Matthew Chau / Sawan Serasinghe (pictured).

Under BWF rules, each of the five continents must be represented by at least one player or pair in each discipline; however, two restrictions are that a doubles pair must be ranked within the world’s top 50 at the end of the qualifying period and additionally, one member association cannot use continental qualifying spots in more than two disciplines.  Australia was the only Oceania country with pairs ranked in the top 50 in men’s and mixed doubles and it also claimed the top Oceania spots in both singles disciplines.

With Australia’s selection of the two doubles pairs, Oceania men’s singles champion Ashwant Gobinathan will not be sent to Rio.  However, with the reallocation of all three unused Tripartite Commission places in women’s singles, Australia’s Wendy Chen has qualified outright, provided that at least two of the three women doubles players who have qualified in two disciplines accept both invitations.

The men’s singles Oceania option now goes to New Zealand’s Dylan Soedjasa but 4 years ago, the New Zealand Olympic Committee refused to send its top singles players, who were invited to London by the BWF.  Apart from Australian and New Zealand shuttlers, the only Oceania shuttlers in the BWF rankings are from regions under the French Olympic Committee and those, like Tonga’s Metuisela Talakai Vainikolo, who did not play the requisite 3 tournaments during the qualifying period.  This means that if New Zealand rejects its quota spot, the Oceania ticket will most likely be reallocated further up the ranking list, where the next eligible player would be Mexico’s Lino Munoz.

Injury no barrier

As expected, Denmark has given the green light to Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, although with only one quota place, they still have the option of submitting the names for one of two lower-ranked Danish pairs before July 18th.  On the other hand, two other players who have suffered serious injuries and who have not since competed – Ivan Sozonov of Russia and Poon Lok Yan of Hong Kong – have also been okayed by their national Olympic committees.  Poon and partner Tse Ying Suet had been entered in the Chinese Taipei Open but their names were withdrawn before the draw was made.