16 Paralympic places awarded in Nove Mesto
Iceland and Chinese Taipei hadn’t won any places during the early stages of the Paralympic qualification process – the World Archery Para Championships in 2015 and respective continental qualifiers.
They were among the 14 nations to collect spots at the final world qualification tournament, held as part of the Czech Target para archery event in Nove Mesto.
Iceland’s spot was won in the compound men’s open competition, by 19th seed Thorsteinn Halldorsson. Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yun-Hsien took a place for her team in the recurve women’s event thanks to a shoot-off win in the semifinals.
Only teams without a space already secured in a competition category could enter an athlete into the final qualifying tournament – and could only win a maximum of one space per category.
Host nation Czech Republic and visiting Spain both added spots in two divisions. Twelve other teams took one place each.
Final Para qualifiers
- Czech Republic – 2 (recurve man open, W1 WomAn)
- France – 1 (W1 Man)
- Germany – 1 (recurve man open)
- Japan – 1 (recurve man open)
- Korea – 1 (W1 man)
- Iceland – 1 (compound man)
- IR Iran – 1 (compound woman)
- Iraq – 1 (recurve woman)
- Mongolia – 1 (recurve woman)
- Poland – 1 (compound man)
- Spain – 2 (compound man, compound woman)
- Chinese Taipei – 1 (recurve woman)
- Turkey – 1 (compound w1)
- Ukraine – 1 (compound woman)
The last stage in the qualification process for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games is the awarding of Bipartite places, which ensure equality and universality at the event.
The final entry list for the Paralympics is expected at the end of July.