By Nick Butler

Wrestling is one sport where the quota places will be confirmed soon ©AFP/Getty ImagesMore details on the qualification system for 18 of the sports to be contested at the European Games in Baku have been released with little more than a year to go until the inaugural event. 


The system, confirmed by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) today, varies on a sport-by-sport basis but is largely compiled either from ranking lists or specific qualification events. 

The process began on Wednesday (May 14) with the announcement of the 120 quota places for aerobics and trampoline gymnastics following the European Championships for the two disciplines, which each served as qualifying tournaments.

Many continental championships in other sports taking place in 2014 will serve as qualifying events, including the wrestling edition which has already been completed in Vantaa, Finland, last month. 

Qualification for archery, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, canoe sprint, women's boxing aquatics and 3x3 basketball will also be decided through European Championships, while for beach soccer the standings from the European Beach Soccer League, which is scheduled to conclude with a Grand Final in Torredembarra, Spain, from August 14 to 17, will be used.

Qualification for beach soccer will take place at a series of events this summer ©Getty ImagesQualification for beach soccer will take place at a series of events this summer
©Getty Images



For cycling, shooting and taekwondo, qualification will consist of a rankings period ending on December 31, while for beach volleyball, judo and badminton, rankings will be formulated from a later date in 2015.

Some sports will also consist of a combination of the two systems, with a limited number of quota places available from the European Table Tennis Championships, due to be held in Lisbon from September 24 to 28, and the European Triathlon Championships, set to place on June 20 and 21 in Kitzbühel, Austria, before the remainder are allocated through rankings.

Host nation places for Azerbaijan will be available across every sport, while there will also be universality places to ensure all participating National Olympic Committees (NOC) have the opportunity to participate, and these will be available for the majority of sports.

No details have yet been released for the street athletics competition confirmed earlier this month, while the Para-judo competition announced earlier this year will consist of invitational entries, with more details released later this year.

The track and field athletics competition will consist of the 3rd League of the European Athletics Team Championships, with the specific nations this will involve confirmed after the 2014 edition, due to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, on July 21 and 22. 

The 206 positions available across 10 men's boxing categories are also yet to be unveiled, and will be finalised and communicated with the NOCs "as soon as possible".

A statement on the EOC website today announcing the qualification criteria added that "preparations are going ahead full speed in close cooperation with the Baku 2015 Organising Committee".

The next stage of preparations will be a Chef de Mission Seminar, due to take place on June 10 and 11 in Baku.

More details on the qualification process can be found here. 

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