Kuala Lumpur: The starting pistol for the race to the Rio 2016 Games has been fired on Monday, May 4, 2015. Competition is going to be very fierce for places, with Badminton players around the world are fighting to earn qualification spots for the greatest sporting event on the planet.
More than 10,000 athletes will compete at the first Olympic Games in South America, in August 2016, and Badminton World Federation (BWF) has made several changes to the 2016 Olympics qualification criteria.
First of all, a maximum of two players per NOC (National Olympic Committee) is allowed in each event, which means the total quota for each NOC will be 16 (8 men and 8 women) compared to 18 at London Olympics 2012.
Secondly, the host’s quota is restricted to one player in either singles categories; each group in singles will contain a minimum of three players, and the group stages of the competition will be followed by a draw for the knockout stage.
Thirdly, an NOC can field two players/pairs if both are ranked in the top 16 in singles and in the top 8 in doubles.
Fourthly, in each singles event, there will be at least one athlete from each of the five BWF continental confederations. If a continental confederation has no singles athlete qualified in an event, the highest ranked athlete in that continent will become eligible (a host country place is separate from the Continental Representation place). No NOC can qualify athletes/pairs in more than two events through the Continental Representation place system. If an athlete qualifies (and is selected) in more than one event, the resulting unused quota place will be allotted to the next best ranked eligible athlete of the same gender in the singles event of the world ranking list of 5 May 2016.
Read the official document from BWF for more details
http://bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=529944&dl=1
