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TOUR REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION 2005
Requirements, Recommendations (and other conditions) for Tour Events on the IRF Racketlon World Tour
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rev M, by Hans, 2005-08-14
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Introduction

This document contains requirements, recommendations and some other conditions for tour events on the 2005 IRF Racketlon World Tour. In return for the commitment to comply with the requirements in this document selected tournament directors are offered Tour Status, which in practice means the opportunity to attract an international field of entries. The ability of tour events to comply with these requirements will be monitored and might influence the chances of an event to enjoy continued tour status.

1) "All you really need to book your flights".

Guaranteed tournament start and end times must be published on the internet (e.g. Breaking News) at least 3 months before tournament start. In order to facilitate the booking of flights in advance.

2) Tournament Status Fee

Each tour event is required to pay a fee of 1 Euro per player participating in the event, but a maximum of 100 Euro irrespective of how many players that take part.

The fee shall be paid to the IRF within one week after the event.

3) Age Classes

3.1) General

The age classes shall be named and defined according to the following conventions:
"Juniors, under 21", open to all players that turn 21 during the season (calendar year), and younger (i.e. it is enough for the condition "<21" to be fulfilled at some point during season).
"Veterans, over 45", open to all players that turn 45 during the season (calendar year), and older (i.e. it is enough for the condition ">45" to be fulfilled at some point during season).

The following age classes - and no others(!!) - will be recorded for ranking purposes
Juniors:
11, 16, 21
Veterans:
40, 45, 50, 55 and above in bands of 5 years.

3.2) Veterans

It is a requirement on tour events to offer a "Veterans 45" class.

If there is not enough demand for the 5-year bands above the IRF recommends tour event organisers to offer veterans classes according to the following 10-year bands:
45, 55, 65 etc..

4) Format

The racketlon format (defined by the three principles described in the introduction to the IRF rules) is a requirement on tour events.

In excerpt from the rules:
The following three pinciples need to be fulfilled in order for a sport to qualify for the term Racketlon:
- The game must include the following four sports: table tennis, squash, badminton and tennis
- The game must be built on the concept of a racketlon match involving the same two individuals (pairs in doubles) playing each other in all four sports - with equivalent sets being played in each sport.
- Each rally must count. The player (pair) who wins most rallies is the winner of the racketlon match.

It is a recommendation that the official rules of the IRF are followed. For the World Championships it is a requirement.

However, if the IRF has launched an official test period for a new rule tournaments are recommended to test the new rule.

5) Equipment and Facilities

5.1) Orange table tennis balls. It is as requirement on Tour events that the balls used for table tennis have the colour orange - unless there is a good reason to avoid it (e.g. orange walls).

5.2) Feathers in all classes. It is a requirement on Tour events that feather shuttle cocks are used in all classes.

5.3) Protective Glasses. It is a recommendation (as stated in the IRF rules) that organisers require protective glasses to be worn in squash, for all classes except elite.

5.4) Practice Courts. It is a recommendation that organisers provide practice courts at least two hours before tournament start.

6) Minimum 3 matches

It is a requirement on tour events to guarantee at least three matches for players travelling from abroad.

7) The Draw

The nationality of the players must be clearly indicated in the draw. (This is for ranking purposes and also for the marketing effect that it has to show that racketlon is an international sport.)

8) Results Reporting

8.1) It is a requirement on tour organisers that the results are recorded for ranking purposes and delivered to the compiler of the ranking within five days after the event. The compiler needs to know the following:
- Full names. First and Last names of all participants.
- Nationality clearly identified
- Who won each match?
- Players in the draw that did not show up (walk-overs) must be clearly marked (so that they are not rewarded any attendance points or counted as attending the tournament)
- Since quarter finals, semi finals and finals give bonus ranking points these matches need to be clearly identified.
- In short, the best way to report the results is through a drawing sheet.

8.2) It is an additional requirement that results - as of the quarter finals - in all "Open" classes (i.e. Elite, Junior, Veteran) are reported, on the last day of the event before 18:00 on the Breaking News function on Racketlon.com according to a specified format (see format requirements). (The main purpose of this requirement is to make it easy for local media responsibles to report the result to national/local newspapers by means of copy-paste into simple e-mails. Let's make an effort to get out tour event results into newspapers! That is not difficult. The papers will appreciate it. And it has the potential to raise awareness considerably.)

8.3) It is recommended that all results, including detailed scores in each set, are posted on the internet within one week of the event.

8.4) It is recommended that all results, including detailed scores in each set, are posted in the racket centre within 1 hour of match end so that the audience can follow the tournament results as they develop.

9) Class Allocation

Organisers are recommended to use the categorisation (Elite, Class 1, Amateurs) given in the world ranking for the allocation of players to classes in the event - in the following way: A player that is classed "Elite" in the world ranking should not be allowed to play in any of the lower classes. A player classed "Class 1" in the world ranking should not be allowed to play in the amateur class.

In addition organisers are recommended to force players who reached the semi-finals in last year's event to take part in a higher class.

10) Seeding

The following is a requirement on the World Championships:
- Given a number of participants lower than 48 (and at least 24) there should be 8 seeded players
- These 8 players should be chosen strictly according to the world ranking
- The placing of the seeded players should be decided through "pairwise randomization" (meaning that No.1 plays either 7 or 8 in the quarterfinal; No.2 plays 7 or 8; 3 plays either 5 or 6; 4 playes either 5 or 6 etc.)
- Tournament management is free to decide on whether there should be so called "challengers" and, if so, who these challengers should be.
- All other players should be placed at random

11) Team Event

The following is a requirement on the World Championships:
- There should be a fixed order for the matches in the team event: M1 - L - M2 - M3
- The World Ranking should be applied strictly as regards who should play in each of the matches (M1 - M2 - M3). This means e.g. that the player in M2 must not be ranked higher than the player in M1 etc.

12) Trophies for the Race

It is a requirement on the last tournament of the World Tour Race (normally the World Championship) to provide trophies for the players who finished among the top 3 in the race (both on the men's side and on the women's side if any) and organise a prize ceremony. The IRF will pay for the trophies (within reasonable limit).

13) Commitment Statement

It is a requirement on the Tournament Director of each tour event to commit in writing (e-mail) to the requirements given in this document by means of a sentence like the following:

"As the main responsible Tournament Director I hereby commit to organising GOTHENBURG OPEN on the 4-6 November 2005 in line with all requirements listed in the attached Commitment Description. I have also read and understood the recommendations given in the same document."

(This "electronic signature" procedure replaces the signing of a paper contract.)

Summary of Requirements

Requirements marked "NEW" in the summary below are introduced for the first time in the 2005 tour. All other requirements have been around for some time before - either explicitly through IRF Decisions or implicitly.

Requirements on Tour Events
- Guaranteed start and end times 3 months in advance.
- Tournament Status Fee - NEW!
- Naming and conventions of age classes - NEW!
- The three principles of racketlon
- Orange balls
- Feather in all classes - Maybe! - NEW!
- Minimum 3 matches for foreigners
- Nationalities in the draw
- Results for the ranking
- Results in text format on Breaking News - NEW!

Additional Requirements on the Last Event of the Tour
- Trophies for the race

Additional Requirements on the World Championships
- Special seeding requirements (e.g. pairwise)
- Special team requirements

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ATTACHMENT A "Additions made after formal commitment"

1) 2 Serves

An official test period covering at least 3 tour events were launched in December 2004 during which shorter serve games containing only 2 serves are tested. It was an IRF recommendation that 2 serves were tested until the IRF 2nd vote had been held. The result of the vote was a victory for 5 serves which means that the test of 2 serves is no longer a recommendation.

2) Single Toss

An official test period covering at least 3 tour events were launched in February 2005 during which the Single Toss rule (see definition) shall be tested. It was an IRF recommendation that the Single Toss rule were tested until the IRF 2nd vote had been held. The result of the vote was a victory for single toss - although it is at the moment (2005-08-14) not yet clear which exact variant of single toss that will be adopted. It is still a recommendation that (a variant of) single toss is used at tour events.


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Revision History:
***B, 041201: First official version
***C, 041211:
Added an introduction.
Added requirements on:
- guaranteed start and end times
- Tour Status fee
- Trophies for the race
- Commitment statement
Added recommendations on:
- class allocation
- the testing of new rules
- the posting of results in the racket centre
- practice courts
This is the version that all tournament directors have committed to!
***D, 041227
Added a summary of requirements
Removed the reference to CET (Central European Time)
"Pairwise randomization" in the seeding clarified.
Changed the title to the more intuitive "Tour Requirement Specification"
***E, 050213, by Hans:
Added "Attachment A" with requirements that have been added after commitment.
Changed the junior classes from "10-, 15-, 20-" into "11, 16, 21".
Added a paragraph on the naming and conventions of the age classes.
***F, 050213, by Hans:
Added the requirement to offer a "Veterans 45" class. (This is an IRF decision from April 2004 that was neglected in earlier version of this document.)
***G, 050219, by Hans:
Added the single toss recommendation to Attachment A
***H, 050326, by Hans
Modified the section about Age Classes for reasons of clarification. Added the recommendation about "bands of 10 years" (45, 55, 65...) for veterans according to an IRF decision from April 2003.
***K, 050507, by Hans
Updated the "Feather in all classes" requirement to reflect the vote results on this issue. (Earlier, feather in all classes, was only identified as a requirement IF it would win the vote, which it now has.)
***L, 050511, by Hans
Added a link to a format requirements document for the Breaking News results reporting.
***M, 050814, by Hans
Attachment A updated with the new status of 2 serves and single toss.


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