Explained: How to qualify for badminton events at Los Angeles Olympics 2028

The qualification system and pathways for badminton at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics has been confirmed by the Badminton World Federation. A detailed release by the world body on Tuesday laid out qualifying criteria and routes for the sport which will have five events — men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles — at the Summer Games.

A total of 172 athletes will take place in event at LA 2028. Eighty-six quota places are available in the men’s and women’s verticals across events, and this includes host country quota (one each) and universality places (two).

Every National Olympic Committee gets eight quotes per vertical and 16 in total.

Badminton at the LA Olympics will run from July 14 to 30 and has qualification scenarios dependent heavily on LA Olympic Ranking. The standings will be published on May 2, 2028 and will count all results achieved between May 3, 2027 to April 30, 2028.

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Qualifying tournaments

The release also details the tournaments that carry points that can contribute towards this ranking.

These include the following:

• Thomas and Uber Cup Finals
• Sudirman Cup Finals
• World Championships
• Grade 2 BWF tour tournaments – Levels 1 to 6
• Grade 3 BWF Continental tour tournaments – International Challenge, International Series and Future Series
• Continental Championships (individual and team)
• Continental multi-sports games (individual events) – Asian Games, Pan American Games, European Games and African Games (if sanctioned during the qualification period)
• Any other international event sanctioned by the BWF and included in advance and with BWF regulations.

The LA28 Olympic Ranking of 2 May 2028 will be used to allocate 35 individual quota places, per gender, to the highest ranked athletes, respecting the maximum quota allocation per NOC per event.

Singles qualification

In each singles event, there must be at least two athletes from each of the five BWF Continental Confederations (Continental Representation Places) provided the player is ranked 250 or above (ranked between 1 and 250) in the LA28 Olympic Ranking of 2 May 2028. If for a particular Continental Confederation there is no singles athlete qualified in an event, the athlete selected for a Continental Representation Place will be the highest ranked eligible athlete in the LA28 Olympic Ranking of 2 May 2028 from the respective continent. An athlete receiving a universality place will not be considered as satisfying the minimum continental representation requirements in a specific singles event.

An athlete receiving a host country place will not be considered as satisfying the minimum continental representation requirements in a specific singles event.

As regards qualification in all events, no NOC can qualify athletes/pairs in more than two events through the Continental Representation Place system. If an NOC has athletes/pairs eligible in more than two events, the NOC must choose which athletes/pairs are qualified, and the athlete/pair quota place that has been declined will be offered to the next eligible athlete/pair.

The NOC’s choice will be considered as final.

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Doubles qualification

The ranking will also be used to allocate 48 pairs quota places, to the 16 highest ranked doubles pairs in each event, respecting the maximum quota allocation per NOC per event. The 48 pairs quota places will include the allocation of Continental Representation Places.

In each doubles event there must be at least one pair from each of the five BWF Continental Confederations (Continental Representation Place), which must be the highest ranked pair in the LA28 Olympic Ranking of 2 May 2028 from the respective continent, provided the pair is ranked 50 or above (ranked between 1 and 50) in the LA28 Olympic Ranking of May 2, 2028. Similar conditions as in the singles categories exist here too.

Universality places

Four universality places are made available to eligible NOCs at the LA28 Olympic Games: two in the Men’s Singles and two in the Women’s Singles.

On October 1, 2027, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will invite all eligible NOCs to submit their requests for universality places. The deadline for NOCs to submit their requests is 15 January 2028. The Tripartite Commission will confirm, in writing, the allocation of universality places to the relevant NOCs after the end of the qualification period for the sport concerned.

Key dates

May 3, 2027 – April 30, 2028: Ranking period

May 2, 2028: The LA28 Olympic Ranking is published.

May 19, 2028: NOCs to confirm in writing to the BWF use of their allocated quota places.

June 23, 2028: Deadline for the BWF to reallocate all unused quota places.

June 26, 2028: LA28 Olympic Games Sport Entries deadline

Published on Feb 11, 2026