The first nine nations to qualify for the boccia competition at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games have been confirmed. Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Great Britain, Slovakia, the Republic of Korea and Thailand all won places at next year’s event via regional championships.

The European championships, the last continental qualifier of the year, was held in Guilford, England, last weekend (25-26 July) and provided three places. The Boccia International Sports Federation (BISfed) confirmed that Great Britain, Belgium and Slovakia won the BC1/BC2 team, BC3 pair and BC4 pair events, respectively, and qualified for these classes at the Rio 2016 Games.

They joined six other nations that had already qualified for Rio 2016. In the Asia and Oceania championships, held in Hong Kong in June, Thailand (BC1/BC2 team), the Republic of Korea (BC3 pair) and China (BC4 pair) were victorious and earned slots in Brazil. At the Americas championships, in Montreal in May, the winners and Paralympic qualifiers were Argentina (BC1/BC2 team), Brazil (BC3 pair) and Canada (BC4 pair). Along with places in the team and pair events, all nine countries also won one place in each of the individual events (BC1, BC2, BC3, BC4).

The remaining places in the team and pair events will be decided according to the world rankings on 30 April 2016. For the individual events, the winners in each class at next year’s world championships will earn places in Rio, with the remaining berths to be filled according to the world rankings

Follow the race to qualify for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games here.

Rio2016.com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process. Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games). The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change. When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC). Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota.