2016 Rio Shuttler Gallery

With the final submission of names for the Rio Olympic Games complete, we present to you the 2016 Olympians in full colour!

Photos: Badmintonphoto

The July 18th deadline has arrived and all of the names have been submitted to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for the 2016 Rio Olympics.  Instead of a list of names, this time we are presenting the qualifiers in a photo array.

Three of the defending champions are back.  2012 men’s doubles gold medallist Cai Yun has recently retired but his partner from atop the podium in London, Fu Haifeng plays on.  Similarly, it was announced on July 18th that Tian Qing did not get the nod in women’s doubles, although her partner Zhao Yunlei will have to chance to defend one of her London golds.  Along with them are three other winners of Beijing gold – Yu Yang, Hendra Setiawan, and Lee Yong Dae – who are back looking for more hardware, though Lee’s quest is in a different discipline.

Making their fifth Olympic appearances are Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand and Poland’s Robert Mateusiak (pictured top).  Playing in their fourth consecutive Olympic Games are three more players: Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei, and Fu Haifeng (pictured below).  The sixth player who was also there competing in Athens, Tsai Chia Hsin of Chinese Taipei, will make Rio his second Olympic appearance, after sitting out both Beijing and London.

Mateusiak is also the oldest competitor to qualify for Rio, at 40 years of age.  The only teenager is Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi.  The youngest doubles player is Thailand’s Puttita Supajirakul and the oldest singles player is Hu Yun of Hong Kong.

Although Olympic qualification was determined by the rankings of May 5th, 2016, the seedings will be based on the ranking lists of July 21st.  The lists below are based on the newly released rankings of July 21st.  The subtraction of points won in Kazakhstan last July resulted in just a few differences from last week’s rankings.  Many other small changes that were expected to occur this week did not come about as the last-minute cancellation of this year’s Lagos International Challenge means that the 2015 points will stay on the books until after the Olympic draws are done.  The highest ranked change that was anticipated – the swapping of the #13 and #14 mixed spots – still would not have had an effect on the seedings.

Keep in mind that only the BWF lists are official but the following photo gallery makes use of the latest information available from the world body.  Section headings link to the latest available qualification lists, published by the BWF on July 19th, after the final submissions were made by the National Olympic Committees.

Women’s Singles

Men’s Singles

(Soren Opti and Yu Woon Chai added on August 13th, 2016)

Men’s Doubles

Women’s Doubles

Mixed Doubles