Tickets to the biggest show in the world are going fast. (No, not "Hamilton"—those have been sold out for years.) To those still desperately scouring the streets for scalpers, the 2020 World Singles Olympic Games Qualification Tournament offers a glimmer of hope. This week in Doha, Qatar, 60 women compete for five Olympic tickets, while 73 men fight for four. In yesterday's group finals, four of the five women punched their tickets. Top seed Britt Eerland of the Netherlands, Sweden's Linda Bergström, Russia's Polina Mikhailova and Yang Xiaoxin of Monaco can all confidently call their travel agents. This fearsome feminine foursome left an equal number of disappointed finalists in their wake: Spain's Galia Dvorak, Ukraine's Margaryta Pesotska, Suthasini Sawettabut of Thailand and Maria Xiao of Spain, respectively. After an an all-Spanish semifinal, Xiao will play Sawettabut tomorrow for the final spot. Today, Lubomir Jancarik of Czech Republic, Bence Majoros of Hungary and Slovakia's Yang Wang earned direct qualification to the Tokyo games this summer. While these men can breathe a sigh of relief, the vanquished semifinalists in their respective brackets reassembled in one final knockout draw for one final spot. Tomorrow, Greek defensive specialist Panagiotis Gionis (pictured) takes on English star Liam Pitchford, the tournament's top seed, for a spot in the consolation final. In the other men's semi, Belgium's Florent Lambiet takes aim at Kirill Skachkov of Russia. Whoever emerges from each final will surely savor such success, sweetened all the more by its redemptive quality. To qualify for the Olympics is the pinnacle of sport, and to overcome a field this talented and motivated to do so is an Olympian feat in and of itself. Sure, that's great and all, but can they get Hamilton tickets?
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