The Men's and Women's World Olympic Qualification Tournaments will see eight teams from around the world, play against each other for a place at the Olympics.
The FIVB Volleyball World Cup 2015 saw the top two teams earn berths to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Each confederation then held their own Olympic Qualification Tournaments, with the World Olympic Qualification Tournament doubling as the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament. The top ranked Asian team and the top three ranked teams from this tournament will earn a berth to the Olympic Games.
The women’s (May 14-22) and men’s (May 28-June 5) tournaments take place in Tokyo, Japan and will determine the four teams that will complete the line-up for the volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Eight teams will compete across 28 games per gender, with each country playing seven matches in as many days.
The women’s competition will see host Japan joined by the top three ranked teams in Asia according the FIVB women’s world ranking – Korea, Thailand and Kazakhstan. The Netherlands and Italy earned their berth at the event as the second and third ranked teams at the European Olympic Qualification Tournament while the Dominican Republic arrived via their silver medal finish at the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament. Peru were the final team to book their place after they claimed second place at the South American Olympic Qualification Tournament.
The men’s tournament will see Japan welcome the top three ranked teams in Asia according to the FIVB men’s world ranking – Australia, China and Iran. Joining them will be France and Poland, who claimed second and third place at the European Olympic Qualification Tournament in 2015, Venezuela, who ranked second at the South American Olympic Qualification Tournament and Canada who finished as runners-up at the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament.
The top ranked Asian teams and the top three ranked teams from each tournament will all claim a ticket to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. If an Asian team is ranked among the top three, then the next ranked team will qualify.