China's Sun Peng (ATP 485) and Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori (ATP 103) are among the half dozen men who received ITF Places for the tennis event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. On the women's side, Chinese Taipei's Chan Yung-Jan (WTA 72) and Japan's 18-year-old Ayumi Morita (WTA 126) are the Asian recipients to secure their tickets to this year's Summer Olympiad.
Both the men and women's singles events will be a 64-player draw and, according to itftennis.com, criteria for qualification are as follows:
- 56 players will qualify for the singles event as direct acceptances according to the June 9th ATP and WTA Tour Singles Rankings
- 2 invitation places in each singles event will be allocated by the Tripartite Commission, and
- 6 final qualification places in the singles event will be allocated by the ITF, with further considerations given to ATP/WTA Tour Rankings and continental/NOC representation
The Tripartite Commission Invitation places had already been announced on March 31 this year.
The two invitations for the men's singles went to El Salvador's 22-year-old Rafael Arevalo (ATP 446) and Togo's 23-year-old Komlavi Loglo (ATP 437), while the women's equivalent went to Zimbabwe's Cara Black (WTA Doubles 1) and Liechtenstein's Stephanie Vogt (WTA 224).
The Tripartite Commission consists of IOC, National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and ITF representatives. These invitations usually tended to favour players from nations or regions with small Olympic teams. Case in point: This will mark the first time an athlete from El Salvador, Liechtenstein, or Togo taking part in the Olympic Tennis Event.
The ITF announced earlier yesterday the six men and six women that would receive ITF Places in the upcoming Olympic Tennis Event in Beijing. These ITF Places go to players who do not meet the direct acceptance requirements of the tournament but who, in the view of the ITF Olympic Committee, meet other criteria that would enhance the field for the 2008 Olympic Tennis Event.
Among the men to receive such a place is defending champion, Nicolas Massu, who beat Mardy Fish in five sets to win the men's singles gold in Athens. He then claimed a second gold medal for Chile when he teamed up with Fernando Gonzalez to beat German pair Nikolas Keifer and Rainer Schuettler in another five-set marathon.
The full list of ITF Places are as follows:
MEN'S SINGLES
Kevin Anderson (South Africa)
Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden)
Kei Nishikori (Japan)
Nicolas Massu (Chile)
Max Mirnyi (Belarus)
Sun Peng (China)
WOMEN'S SINGLES
Maria Koryttseva (Ukraine)
Chan Yung-Jan (Chinese Taipei)
Ayumi Morita (Japan)
Nuria Llagostera-Vives (Spain)
Alicia Molik (Australia)
Selima Sfar (Tunisia)
According to ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti, "Each of the players who has been awarded an ITF Place brings special qualities to the field for the 2008 Olympic Tennis Event."
"Some of the players are young competitors from under-represented parts of the world, while others are former medallists or long-standing participants in their country's Davis Cup and Fed Cup efforts. Their desire to represent their countries in Beijing – and the desire of their countries to be represented by them – is in the true spirit of Olympic competition."
Elsewhere, the United States have announced their Olympic team nominations.
For the men, James Blake, Sam Querrey, and Robby Ginepri will play singles, while the Bryan Brothers and the Blake-Querrey pairing will contest the doubles.
Blake, a former Harvard standout and the 1999 ITA National Player of the Year, has the chance to make history by becoming the first African-American male to win an Olympic tennis medal. Blake will be making his Olympic debut after having missed the 2004 Athens Games when recovering from a broken vertebra.
For the women, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, and Lindsay Davenport are the confirmed singles participants, while the Williams Sisters and the Davenport-Liezel Huber combo will contest the doubles.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the Williams sisters became the first siblings to combine for an Olympic gold medal when they took home the women's doubles. That year, Venus Williams also won gold in the women's singles event.
The only other woman in the history of the Olympics to sweep both titles at the same Games was Hall of Famer, Helen Wills, in Paris 1924.
However, it has been 12 years since an American last won Olympic gold in men's singles when Andre Agassi did so in Atlanta 1996 as he beat Spain's Sergi Bruguera in straight sets in the final.
The last pair of Americans to win gold in men's doubles was the combination of Ken Flach and Rob Seguso, as they defeated the Spanish duo of Emilio Sanchez and Sergio Casal in the final at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
Li Na, Zheng Jie, and Peng Shuai are the widely expected singles players for China, while the pairings of Zheng Jie-Yan Zi and Sun Tiantian-Peng Shuai are the likely combinations for the doubles.
The ITF will announce the full list of entries on July 2.
The Olympic Tennis Event in Beijing will take place from August 10-17.
Sources
www.itftennis.com/Olympics
2008 U.S. Olympic Tennis Team Named (www.usta.com)
www.tennis.org.cn
http://sports123.com