Tennis: NZOC stand by Erakovic decision

Marina Erakovic. Photo / Steven McNicholl

The NZOC are standing by their selection criteria that is set to deny Kiwi tennis number one Marina Erakovic a place in the Olympics.

Erakovic's world ranking of 61 is high enough to qualify her for London but NZOC's policy of only selecting athletes inside the top 16 of their sport means she misses out.

President Mike Stanley says their threshold is in place to ensure those who travel are the very best in their field.

Stanley's dismissing the claim that upsets are more common in tennis, and says very rarely does an outsider actually win high profile events.

He says their benchmark needs to be consistent across all sports, and tennis will need to prove an exception needs to be made in order for Erakovic to qualify.

Stanley says there is scope to allow her to go if she can prove there should be an exception to the rule.

He says given she's been injured, and has shown recent signs of improvement, if it can be shown she's tracking to finish inside the top 16 they may allow her to go.

Stanley says the Olympics want representation from around the globe, where New Zealand wants quality performances from its athletes.