Kanako Yonekura was among 11 Japanese players to claim berths for the Athens Olympics on Saturday as the International Badminton Federation named the list of players qualified to take part in the Games.
The qualified players have been taken from the world ranking list announced Saturday with Japan to field seven female and four male competitors across the five disciplines at the Aug. 14-21 badminton competition.
World No. 11 Yonekura, who reached the semifinals of last month's Asian Championships, is entered in the women's singles along with Kaori Mori and Miho Tanaka while Peru International winner Shoji Sato and Hidetaka Yamada are entered in the men's singles. Yonekura, Yamada and doubles specialist Keita Masuda will all be making their second straight appearances at the Olympics.