Golfer Siddikur Rahman has become Bangladesh’s first athlete to qualify for an Olympics after finishing 56th in the final eligibility rankings for the Rio Games.
Bangladesh has been given four wild card spots for next month’s Games so far, with swimmers Mahfizur Rahman Sagor and Sonia Akter Tumpa, archer Shyamoly Roy and shooter Abdullahel Baki set to represent their country in Rio.
The International Golf Federation published the final Olympic rankings on its website on Monday, with Rahman’s position enough to qualify for Rio when golf makes it return to the Games for the first time since 1904.
“This is a great honour for me as well as for the game of golf,” the two-time Asian Tour winner told local media.
“I believe no other sportsman from the country ever took part in the Olympic Games through qualification before this. So I am honoured and glad that I will be representing my country through the game I play in Rio de Janeiro.
“I have already booked a ticket for Rio and hopefully I will be able to make my country proud in the golf event.”
The 31-year-old dropped down the rankings in April but worked his way back into contention for the Games by finishing second in the Afr-Asia Mauritius Open a month later. (Reporting by Meanwhile, Hong Kong golfer Tiffany Chan is aiming for the top after becoming one of three amateurs to qualify for the Rio Olympic games yesterday.
The 22-year-old university student’s spot was confirmed after she finished 56th in the Olympic rankings, as the sport returns to the games for the first time in 112 years.
“I’m really excited and happy to be part of the Olympics,” Chan told AFP hours after qualifying, adding that she hoped to appear on the leaderboard next month.
 “I just have to be patient and try to learn from the other professional players,” Chan, who first played on a public Hong Kong driving range at the age of six, said.
 One of the players she will face is the women’s world number three golfer Park In-Bee, 27, from South Korea.
 Park missed the US Women’s Open in San Martin, California, and the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan due to a thumb injury, but said her condition had become “much better”.
 Chan will also come up against New Zealand’s 19-year-old Lydia Ko, the women’s world number one.
 Rio will stage Olympic golf for the first time since 1904 with 60 competitors each in the men’s and women’s events playing a 72-hole stroke play tournament.