The affair would be laughable if it did not threaten to shatter the Olympic dream of two men, doubles badminton specialists. While they thought they had their ticket in play for the Paris Olympics, Lucas Corvée and Ronan Labar could remain at the dock, overtaken by the Popov brothers (Toma Junior and Christo).
The ranking published Tuesday by the International Federation (BWF) gives the siblings 29 points ahead of the Corvée – Labar duo who, until then convinced of having a comfortable lead, were stunned. The BWF has in fact corrected a calculation error which had given 400 points too many to the two badists during a competition dating back to May 2023…
Four men and a Federation in the dark
And now ? The official announcement of the BWF ranking, decisive in the allocation of Olympic quotas, will be known on April 30. “It’s a roller coaster for everyone, with a lot of uncertainty,” indicates the DTN of the French Federation Jérôme Careil, in West France. Corvée, Labar but also the two Popovs and their supervisory authority find themselves in limbo.
“For our part, we will propose the list of our selected ones to the CNOSF [Comité national olympique], which will validate it on May 15, continues the leader. We received a response from the BWF [la Fédération internationale], which just requires more time. » Because according to the DTN, other countries would be affected by errors which distort the ranking, and therefore the race for Olympic qualification.
As for Ronan Labar and Lucas Corvée, “they went through the BWF athletes’ commission and they will also seek legal support”. “It’s unprecedented,” observes Jérôme Careil. “Sportingly, it’s tough. Humanly, it’s horrible,” adds the leader of a Federation which was very happy to send a men’s doubles to the Games for the first time. “They get us into trouble and also get into it on their own,” observes the manager, referring to the BWF bigwigs.
What if, given the disorder they caused, they finally selected the two French duos for these Olympics at home? “If we put 17 pairs instead of 16, that changes the entire organization of the competition,” retorts Jérôme Careil. I find it difficult to imagine that this will be retained, even if we will obviously ask for it. »
2024-04-19 12:17:02
#calculation #error #plunges #French #badminton #full #psychodrama
