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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.
--------------------End of REQUIREMENT
SPECIFICATION-----------------------------