Oksana Kalashinikova and Ekaterine Gorgodze have failed in their bid to play in the women's doubles competition at Tokyo 2020 ©Getty Images

The Georgian National Olympic Committee’s (GNOC) failure to submit tennis players Oksana Kalashinikova and Ekaterine Gorgodze as entrees into the women’s doubles competition has cost them a place at Tokyo 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) Ad Hoc Division has ruled here.

Kalashinikova and Gorgodze filed an appeal, seeking a ruling that are eligible to compete at the Olympics after they were not included on the revised entry list for the Games.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) published the list on July 16 before informing the two players that their application had not been submitted by either the Georgian Tennis Federation or the GNOC.

The GNOC had informed Kalashinikova and Gorgodze that their application had been issued.

But the panel of arbitrators found the Georgian duo had not been nominated by the GNOC for entry into the Olympics and claimed the ITF "did nothing wrong".

The hearing was held in the Japanese capital with some participants present and others attending via video-conference.

The GNOC was not represented at the hearing, nor did it file any written submissions during the procedure, according to CAS.

Georgia's only representative in the Tokyo 2020 tennis competition will be Nikoloz Basilashvili ©Getty Images
Georgia's only representative in the Tokyo 2020 tennis competition will be Nikoloz Basilashvili ©Getty Images

"The panel found that the applicants were not nominated by the GNOC for entry into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and that in the absence of an official nomination, the ITF did nothing wrong in adopting the revised entry list on July 16," a statement from CAS read.

"The consequence, however unfortunate for the two athletes, can only be the dismissal of their petition."

Nikoloz Basilashvili will be Georgia’s only representative in the tennis at Tokyo 2020 as he competes in the men’s singles.

According to the ITF’s qualification system for the Olympics, entries are based on the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women’s Tennis Association rankings from June 14.

At that stage, Kalashnikova was ranked 75th in the women’s doubles rankings and Gorgodze placed 114th.

The men’s and women’s doubles events consist of a draw of 32 teams each with a maximum of two pairs per National Olympic Committee.

Players in the top 10 gained direct entry, with the additional places allocated to the highest-ranked teams based on the combined ranking.

The ITF states that all players "must be in good standing" with their National Federation and have made themselves available to represent their country in the organisation’s international team competitions.