Shota Tezuka Strives for Gold (again)
Qualifications for The Word Games 2022 continue to speed up. In November, as many as six international sports federations have used their continental or worldwide competitions to determine the best athletes for the Games in Birmingham, Alabama (7-17 July 2022). Right now a total of 605 quota places (athletes or teams) from 61 countries have qualified. 146 unique athlete names have been entered into the database system as qualified. This month, 140 quota places and the names of 26 unique athletes have been added to the qualification database.
The International Waterski Federation has made the roll call for the freestyle competitions in Wakeboarding. Shota Tezuka of Japan will get the chance to defend her title from the 2017 World Games in Wroclaw, Poland. Guy Frier of Israel, winner of the bronze medal in Wroclaw, will get a chance for revenge. For the USA, which won gold and silver in Poland, newcomer Tarah Benzel will compete. Archery used its Pan American Qualifiers competition to further round out the starting fields for the Birmingham Games. After that, it is clear that archers from El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Colombia and the USA will be competing at the Birmingham Games.
In early November, The World Championships in Powerlifting in Stavanger not only offered medals and titles, but also tickets for TWG 2022. The same procedure occurred at the World Championships in Duathlon in Spain. A starting place is reserved for the Games in Birmingham for the ten best in each medal event.
At the World Championships in Karate, which took place this month in Dubai, two finalists for Birmingham have directly qualified in each weight class. The same counts for the one of the bronze medalists with the better World Ranking. At the Women's World Boules Championships the participants were able to collect points for the World Ranking; the tally in early 2022 will decide the starting places at The World Games. The World Speed Skating Championships also counted for World Ranking. The top skaters will then be at TWG 2022. The names of the qualified athletes and quota places will be put into the system by these Federations within the next few days.
In the meantime, the International Gymnastics Federation has awarded the 54 team places for the Acrobatics and Aerobics competitions to pairs, trios and groups from a total of 14 nations. The International Canoe Federation has nominated athletes from 22 countries for its 80 slots in the four medal events in Canoe Marathon.
As of 25th November 2021, with 258 athletes and participation in 58 medal events, the U.S. makes up the largest group at the march-in during the opening ceremonies on 7th July at the Protective Stadium in Birmingham. Germany is in second place with 186 athletes in 38 medal events. From Russia, 108 athletes in 53 events are currently chosen for The World Games. Canada is represented with exactly 100 athletes in 21 events.
These numbers will change again in December, because then further qualifications will be underway on the road to Birmingham. On the programme will be the Africa Championships in Sport Climbing and the World Championships in Racquetball, Muaythai, Lifesaving, Floorball and in the DanceSport discipline Breaking. The Ju-jitsu International Federation will finalise its world rankings on 31st December and nominate the best fighters for TWG 2022 accordingly.
Qualifications for The World Games are conducted by the International Federations. One of the criteria is that only the best athletes or teams in a sport or discipline can compete at the Games. The sport entries deadline is 31 March 2022.
All qualified athletes and countries can be found on The World Games website.
Several of the qualified athletes will be presented in the new series ‘Building up to Birmingham’, on social media and on The World Games website.
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association, organised with the support of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 7-17 July 2022. 3,600 athletes from 34 sports and over 100 countries will take part in The World Games.
