The three Tripartite Commission Invitation places for badminton’s Men’s Singles competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games have been assigned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The players receiving Tripartite places are: Jaspar Woon Chai Yu (Brunei), Niluka Karunaratne (Sri Lanka) and Soren Opti (Suriname).
There were no allocations of Tripartite Places in Women’s Singles as none of the candidates met the required criteria of playing a minimum of three international tournaments. These three places have been returned to Badminton World Federation for reallocation.
The Tripartite Commission Invitation places are selected by the IOC to ensure maximum possible global representation in Olympic sports. World No.96 Niluka Karunaratne, No.284 Soren Opti and No.407 Jaspar Woon Chai Yu will join at least 38 other competitors in Men’s Singles.
The total of 41 places in Men’s Singles includes the initial quota of 34 with representatives from all five continental confederations. Besides this, one place is reserved for the hosts. As Brazil already have a player qualifying on ranking within the top 34 quota places, the host place has been reallocated also. Additionally, three places have been reallocated in Men’s Singles due to male players qualifying in two events. David Obernosterer (Austria), Martin Giuffre (Canada), Petr Koukal (Czech Republic) and Pedro Martins (Portugal) are in line to receive these four reallocated places.
The offer of these places is conditional on the continuing participation of the players qualifying in two events. If their place is declined or the player becomes unavailable (due to injury, illness, etc.) and the player next in line is not in two events, the place in singles will no longer be available. Places may be reallocated until 18th July.
There are a total of 41 places in Women’s Singles too. Brazil’s Lohaynny Vicente will take the place reserved for the hosts. Six reallocated places have become available in Women’s Singles as a result of female players participating in two events and due to the reallocation of Tripartite places. Kati Tolmoff (Estonia), Laura Sarosi (Hungary; featured image), Chloe Magee (Ireland), Akvile Stapusaitye (Lithuania), Telma Santos (Portugal) and Sabrina Jaquet (Switzerland) are in line to take these places.
The 16 places in each of the three doubles events will have no Tripartite or host quotas. Continental representation places are reserved provided the pair is within the top 50 rankings on the date of eligibility (5 May 2016). One place in Men’s Doubles (Australia’s Matthew Chau/Sawan Serasinghe) and two in Mixed Doubles (USA’s Phillip Chew/Jamie Subandhi and Australia’s Robin Middleton/Leanne Choo) have been taken under the continental representation system. A National Olympic Committee (NOC) can have only two representatives under this system.
As Australia has four eligible representatives (Ashwant Gobinathan in Men’s Singles, Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen in Women’s Singles and the two doubles pairs mentioned above), the Australian NOC must confirm by 31 May 2016 which of the two they choose for Rio. The vacated spot will then go to the next highest-ranked representatives of an NOC from the same continental confederation.