Badminton's world governing body has made several changes to the qualification system of the 2008 Olympic Games in a bid to bring more countries and regions into the Olympic competition. The International Badminton Federation (IBF) is aiming to see 50 countries and regions in the Beijing Olympics in the badminton competition as against 32 in Athens last year. Newly elected IBF deputy president Datuk Punch Gunalan says the total number of players in the Games will remain at 172, the same as in Athens, but the places for men's and women's singles increase from 29 to 38 respectively and places for men's, women's and mixed doubles each drop from 19 pairs to 16. The new regulations also state that one IBF member may have a maximum three players/pairs in an event as long as players/pairs are ranked 1 to 4 in the IBF rankings in that event. Otherwise, the member can only have two players or pairs. Previously, IBF members could have three players or pairs in the Olympics, provided they hold a ranking of 1 to 16 in the event.
duhhhh lool. of course, this way, it'll garanutee no other country will have more than two competitors in any give section
