Road to Tokyo: World Singles Qualification Tournament starts in Doha

DOHA: Nine Olympic berths are up for grabs as the World Singles Qualification Tournament got under way at Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena (Al Sadd) here on Sunday.

Four berths are allocated for men while the women paddlers will vie for the five berths that will make them qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

A total of 73 entries for men and 60 for women have been registered for the event.

In the men’s singles, three qualification spots will be available in stage one.

The players will be split into three knockout rounds, starting from the round of 32.

The winner of each knockout round will earn a berth for Tokyo Games, whereas the losing finalist and semifinalist from each of the three knockouts will battle in stage two in a final knockout round, where the winner will eventually bag one more spot for Tokyo.

The Games got postponed from last year to July 2021 due to the outbreak of Covid-19.