Road to Rio Program was a program that provided all the possible technical and some financial support to selected African badminton players who have the possibility to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The project was a collaboration between Badminton Confederation of Africa and Badminton World Federation. The program was exclusively for singles players as it would be difficult to qualify for the doubles events. [1]
During a meeting which was held with the selected players and their coaches in Mauritius, Ian Wright the development director of the BWF explained that the BWF wants to help more African to qualify for the next Olympic Games and this is why the BWF/BCA are investing a lot of resources to achieve this objective. Mr. Wright also added that it is a must that all the National Federations commit to this program by respecting the different criteria that will be set by the BWF/BCA. For instance, National Federation should respect deadlines for entering their players in the selected tournaments and also provide necessary information for visa and other purposes in time. On the other hand, the players should also provide their training details and their availability until the Olympic Games in 2016.
The selected players had their first training camp in Gaborone, Botswana. After the end of the 2013 Botswana International, the training camp was moved to Pretoria, South Africa.
The following were the 14 players selected for the Road to Rio Program:
Male Players
Female Players
| Country | Player |
|---|---|
 Nigeria | Grace Gabriel |
 Mauritius | Kate Foo Kune |
 Egypt | Hadia Hosny |
 Kenya | Mercy Joseph |
 South Africa | Elme De Villiers |
| Mauritius | Nicki Chan-Lam |
Jacob Maliekal and Kate Foo Kune represented their respective nations at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. Both players won one game during the group stage and ended up second in their groups, thus did not qualify for the knockout round.
| 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's Singles | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Round | Opponent | Score | Result |
| Group stage |  Son Wan-ho | 10–21, 10-21 | Lost |
| Group stage |  Artem Pochtarev | 21–18, 21-19 | Win |
| 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's Singles | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Round | Opponent | Score | Result |
| Group stage |  Wendy Chen Hsuan-yu | 21–16, 21-19 | Win |
| Group stage |  Porntip Buranaprasertsuk | 7-21, 18-21 | Lost |
The Badminton Confederation Africa (BCA) is the governing body of badminton in Africa. It is one of the 5 continental bodies under the flag of the Badminton World Federation (BWF). It now has 46 member countries and 2 associate members.
The African Badminton Championships is a tournament organized by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) to crown the best badminton players in Africa. For the Team event there is the African Badminton Cup of Nations. This is not to be confused with the All African Games, the multi sports event, held every four years where badminton is included since 2003. This tournament established since 1979 where Kumasi, Ghana held the competition. Kenyan men's and women's team emerged as the champion at the first edition.
Eileen Karen Lee Chin Foo Kune, born 29 May 1982 is a Mauritian badminton player and politician. She was the Mauritian sportswoman of the year in 2004 and 2009. She participated in badminton at the 2008 Summer Olympics and made it to the Commonwealth Games in 2002, 2006, and 2010. In 2011, she won the bronze medals at the All-Africa Games in the women's doubles and mixed team event.
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Hadia Mohamed Hosny Elsaid Mohamed Tawfik El Said is an Egyptian badminton player playing in the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympics. She won the women's singles title at the 2010 African Championships, and emerged as the women's doubles gold medalist at the 2019 African Games.
Mauritius competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's ninth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.
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Wendy Chen Hsuan-yu is an Australian badminton player who has represented her country at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Kate Jessica Kim Lee Foo Kune is a badminton player from Mauritius. She began playing badminton in Mauritius at age six. Her first major tournament participation was 2013 BWF World Championships in China, where she lost in the first round of women's singles to Sarah Walker of England. Foo Kune represented her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was the flag bearer for Mauritius during the Parade of Nations.
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Prakash Vijayanath is a South African badminton player.
Mercy Mwethya Joseph is a Kenyan badminton player. She was selected among the 14 best African players to be a member of the Road to Rio Program organised by the BWF and Badminton Confederation of Africa, to provide financial and technical support to African players and the lead-up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She was the women's doubles bronze medallist at the 2015 All-Africa Games, and has competed at the 2010, 2014, and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
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Aatish Lubah is a Mauritian badminton player. He was one of the 14 players selected for the Road to Rio Program, a program that aimed to help African badminton players to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games. Lubah competed at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Daniel Sam is a Ghanaian badminton player. He competed at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games. In 2011, he won the bronze medal at the All-Africa Games in the men's doubles event partnered with Solomon Mensah Nyarko. He was one of the 14 players selected for the Road to Rio Program, a program that aimed to help African badminton players to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games. Having faced disciplinary issues including being suspended for six times in ten years, he was banned for 6 years by his national governing body of the sport, after a disciplinary hearing in 2021
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Mohamed Abderrahime Belarbi is an Algerian badminton player who trained at the Chantecler club in Bordeaux, France. He competed at the 2010 Singapore Summer Youth Olympics. He was one of the 14 players selected for the Road to Rio Program, a program that aimed to help African badminton players to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games. Belarbi won the men's doubles title at the 2018 African Championships.
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The 2020 African Badminton Championships is the continental badminton championships to crown the best players across Africa. The tournament is being held at the Cairo Stadium Hall 2 in Cairo, Egypt, from 14 to 16 February 2020.
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