Golfer Siddikur Rahman became the first Bangladeshi sportsperson to qualify for the Olympic Games after he was ranked 56th in the Final Olympic Golf Rankings released by the International Golf Federation (IGF) yesterday.
The updated list confirmed that the 31-year-old golfer will be the first Bangladeshi to participate in the Olympic Games through qualification as all the other athletes to have participated so far have done so through wild cards, provided to each national Olympic association by the International Olympic Committee to encourage participation for all countries.
“Alhamdulillah , confirmed for RIO OLYMPIC 2016. For the first time representing BANGLADESH directly in Olympic,” Siddikur wrote on his verified Facebook page last night.
“…. becoming an Olympian is the biggest dream which will turn into reality soon in sha allah. I am ranked 56 out    of 60.thanks to almighty, family , fans and all my well wisher. Please keep me in your prayers,” wrote the golfer.
The two-year qualification process for golf’s return to the Olympic Games for the first time in 112 years was completed with the publication of the rankings last night.
The process began on July 14, 2014 and concluded on Sunday. The full list of qualifiers confirms the names of the 120 players – 60 male and 60 female – who are now eligible to be entered by their respective National Olympic Committees (NOCs) in accordance with the qualification criteria.
The IGF will send confirmation of the quota places to the NOCs on Tuesday (today). The NOCs will then confirm use of allocated quota places to the IGF who, in turn, will reallocate all unused quota places before the Rio 2016 Sport Entries Deadline on July 18.
The IGF will publish a further list of 60 names for both the men’s and women’s events on Monday, July 18, which will provide ratification of all the competitors who will comprise the respective fields at the Olympic Games.