LONDON -- Jean-Michel Saive of Belgium qualified for his sixth Olympics on Sunday and Hong Kong's Lin Ling and Tie Yana also earned their places in Beijing after earlier being ruled ineligible to compete at the Games.
Saive, 38, had been deprived of automatic qualification when a recount of rankings results put him one place behind Joergen Persson of Sweden, who was the final automatic qualifier.
Saive finished third in the men's singles at the final table tennis qualifier in Budapest on Sunday after beating Adrian Crisan 4-0. Hong Kong's Cheung Yuk and Chiang Peng-Lung of Taiwan finished first and second respectively.
The two Hong Kong women players Lin and Tie were ruled ineligible for Beijing by the sport's ruling federation over a passport issue, despite being in the world's top 20, but were allowed to enter the qualifier after the International Olympic Committee decided they were eligible.
Tie finished first in the event with Lin second. Shen Yanfei of Spain finished third. In all 16 men and 17 women qualified in Budapest for the singles events in Beijing in August.
