USA Badminton Tournament Regulations

USA  BADMINTON  TOURNAMENT  REGULATIONS
(Last Updated On February 1st, 2010)

The following Tournament Regulations have been approved by the USAB Court Officials Advisory Group. The Regulations shall be adopted in all domestic National Ranking tournaments. It is recommended that they be used in all domestic tournaments.

1. THE DRAW

a) The draw for all knock-out events shall be made in the manner set out below and no dummy entry is permitted.

b) When the number of playing units is four, eight, sixteen, or any higher power of two, they shall meet in pairs in the first round and there shall be no byes.

c) When the number of playing units is not a power of two, there shall be byes in the first round. The byes shall be placed as described in Section 5 of these Regulations.

d) To ensure even strength throughout the draw, the draw may be seeded and shadow seeded as described in Regulations 2 and 3.

e) To avoid players from the same geographical area meeting in the early rounds, they shall be distributed evenly throughout the draw as described in Regulation 4. 

f) For domestic USAB National Ranking tournaments, the draw shall be conducted by a designee of the USAB Court Officials Advisory Group.

2. SEEDS

a) In domestic USAB National Ranking tournaments the seeds shall be determined by a designee of the USAB Court Officials Advisory Group.

 b) The seeding of the draw for domestic USAB National Ranking tournaments shall be done using the National Rankings as published on the date stated in the entry form, even if results are missing. 

c) Before implementing Regulation 2b in events in which the Court Officials Advisory Group does the seeding, the National Rankings of players shall be modified for seeding purposes when Regulation 2c(i) or 2c(ii) applies.

      i) Adjusted Ranking:   If a player (singles) or pair (doubles) has a National Ranking but has competed in fewer than eight tournaments in the specified 52 week period, an Adjusted Ranking is produced by taking the player's/pair's National Ranking points and adjusting as follows: 

Number of Tournaments Played in	Adjust National Ranking Points by Multiplying by
2	10 / 5
3	10 / 5
4	10 / 5
5	10 / 5
6	10 / 6
7	10 / 7

     ii) Notional Ranking:   If a doubles pair has no National Ranking, then a Notional Ranking is calculated for the pair. In order to be eligible for a Notional Ranking both players in the doubles pair must have played in at least one National Ranking tournament in that doubles event during the specified 52 week period.

To calculate a pair's Notional Ranking, an average is taken of the best average National Ranking points per tournament scored by each of the two players with any partners. This average is then converted into the total Notional Points for the pair by multiplying by 4 and then multiplying the result by 80 %.

 Example: Players A and B do not have a National Ranking together in Men’s Doubles. With other partners in Men’s Doubles during the specified 52 week period, Player A obtained 150 points with C in 3 tournaments and 120 points with D in 2 tournaments, while Player B obtained 40 points with E in 1 tournament.

Calculation:

Best average points per tournament for Player A = 120 / 2  =  60 points

Best average points per tournament for Player B = 40 / 1  =  40 points

total average for A-B pair  =  (60 + 40) / 2  =  50 points

Total Notional Points for A-B pair  =  50 x 4 x 0.8  =  160 points 

d)   The resulting Adjusted Ranking in Regulation 2c(i) or Notional Ranking in Regulation 2c(ii) is used to determine the seeding position. 

      i) A player/pair may have any seeding position based on a National Ranking 

      ii) A player/pair may be seeded no higher than 3/4 based on an Adjusted Ranking or Notional Ranking. However, if the number of players/pairs having a National Ranking is less than the permissible number of seeding places (Regulation 2e), then all the seeding can be done on the basis of Adjusted Rankings and Notional Rankings. 

      iii) A player/pair which does not have a National Ranking, Adjusted Ranking, or Notional Ranking at the time the draw is made, may be seeded in no higher than a 3/4 position if there are players/pairs in the draw that have a National Ranking of 5 or higher.

e) The number of seeds shall be as follows:
     i) A maximum of two seeds if there are less than 16 entries.
     ii) A maximum of four seeds if there are between 16 and 31 entries.
     iii) A maximum of eight seeds if there are between 32 and 63 entries.

f) The seeds shall be placed as follows, while taking account of the requirements of Regulation 4:
     i) Seeded entries in the top half of the draw shall be placed at the top of their sections (halves, quarters, eighths, etc.) and seeded entries in the bottom half of the draw shall be placed at the bottom of their sections (halves, quarters, eighths, etc.).
     ii) If two entries are to be seeded, number one shall be placed at the top of the upper half and number two at the bottom of the lower half.
      iii) If four entries are to be seeded, numbers one and two shall be placed as above; numbers three and four shall be drawn by lot to the appropriate positions in the remaining two quarters.
      iv) If eight entries are to be seeded, numbers one to four shall be placed as above; the remainder shall be drawn by lot to the appropriate positions in the remaining eighths of the draw.
      v) Where the full number of seeds permissible is not taken up, the positions allocated to those in the partial seed group (3/4, 5/8, etc.) shall be drawn by lot from all possible seeding positions for that seed group. 

3. SHADOW SEEDS

In domestic USAB National Ranking tournaments the shadow seeds shall be determined by the designee of the USAB Court Officials Advisory Group and the Referee.

a) The number of shadow seeds permitted shall be as follows:
     i) A maximum of two shadow seeds if there are between 5 and 15 entries.
     ii) A maximum of four shadow seeds if there are between 16 and 31 entries.
     iii) A maximum of eight shadow seeds if there are between 32 and 63 entries.
     iv) The number of shadow seeds shall not exceed the number of seeds.

b) The shadow seeds shall be placed as follows, while taking account of the requirements of Regulation 4:
     i) The shadow seeds shall be treated as one group of equal rank and not individually ranked.
     ii) For a draw of less than 8 entries, the shadow seeds shall be drawn into opposite halves of the draw. For a draw of seven entries, the second seed shall not play a shadow seed in the first round.
     iii) For a draw between 8 and 15 entries, a shadow seed shall not be drawn into a quarter occupied by a seed. The two shadow seeds shall be drawn in opposite halves of the draw.
     iv) For a draw between 16 and 31 entries, a shadow seed shall not be drawn into an eighth occupied by a seed. A maximum of two shadow seeds may be drawn into the same half of the draw and they shall be drawn into different eighths of the draw.
     v) For a draw between 32 and 63 entries, a shadow seed shall not be drawn into a sixteenth occupied by a seed. A maximum of four shadow seeds may be drawn into the same half of the draw and they shall be drawn into different sixteenths of the draw.

    vi) Where the full number of shadow seeds permissible is not taken up, the positions allocated to the shadow seeds shall be drawn by lot from all possible shadow seeding positions according to Regulations 3b(ii) - 3b(v).

4. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

It is the Tournament Director's and Referee's responsibility to ensure that a draw contains a satisfactory distribution of player geographies. What constitutes an appropriate geographical unit (state, town, club, etc.) pertaining to the basis of separation will depend on the specific entries received for an event and its selection shall be left to these officials to determine.

a) Before the draw is made, the Tournament Director and Referee shall select a geographical unit (state, town, club, etc.) as a basis for separating entries appropriate to the diversity of entries received for the event.

b) A doubles pair consisting of players from different geographical units shall be regarded as not coming from any particular geographical unit.

c) The first and second ranked entries from a particular geographical unit shall be drawn by lot into opposite halves of the draw.

d) The third and fourth ranked entries from a particular geographical unit shall be drawn by lot into the two remaining quarters of the draw.

e) A player (singles)/pair (doubles) shall not face or have the potential to face a player (singles) /pair (doubles) from the same geographical unit in their first match, where practically possible.


5. POSITIONING OF BYES AND SEEDS IN THE DRAW

Using the following instructions with Table 1 will lead to correct positioning of byes and seeds in any draw between 3 and 64 entries.

 

Table 1.   Correct Positioning of Seeds and Byes

Instructions

a) On a sheet of paper, write a column from 1, 2, 3 downward up to the number of entries in the draw.

b) Write "bye" alongside those numbers of your column corresponding to the bye positions given in Table 1 for that size draw.

c) Write the seed numbers (e.g., 1, 2, 3/4, 5/8, etc.) alongside those numbers of your column corresponding to the seed positions given in Table 1 for that size draw.

d) Obtain a draw template of appropriate size e.g., for a draw of size 13 use a draw template of size 16, for a draw of size 26 use a draw template of size 32.

e) Transfer the bye and seed information from your sheet of paper onto the draw template. Player numbers with “Bye” written alongside them in step 5b are placed in the second round, while the remaining player numbers are placed in the first round.


6. QUALIFYING ROUNDS

a) Where entries exceed the required places in the main competition draw, the organizers are recommended to play qualifying rounds under the supervision of the Referee as provided for in Regulations 6b to 6h. The seeding and draw for the qualifying competition shall be done in accordance with Regulations 1 to 5.

b) The players or pairs not directly in the main competition shall play for a limited number of places fixed by the organizers and it is recommended that this number not exceed one for each eight places in the main draw.

c) The places allocated for qualifying players/pairs in the main draw shall be drawn by lot subject to the requirement that they be distributed evenly throughout the draw (e.g., one qualifying place per quarter, etc.). This draw shall be made and published before play begins in qualifying rounds.

d) Where players or pairs withdraw their entry from the main competition, the Referee may fill the vacancies from the entries in the qualifying rounds, provided these entries have not yet lost a match, even stopping a match in progress if required.

e) The players to fill vacancies in the main competition shall beforehand be selected in order of strength and shall be placed in the draw by lot when there is more than one vacancy to be filled.

f) The Referee may re-draw a particular qualifying draw if, in his/her sole opinion, it has been rendered significantly unbalanced by the implementation of Regulations 6d and 6e and if play in that draw has not begun.

g) If more players or pairs enter the competition than the organizers can accept even in the qualifying round, then these excess players/pairs shall beforehand be selected in order of strength, put on a reserve list, and shall be placed in the qualifying draw by lot when there is more than one vacancy to be filled.

h) It is recommended that as far as practicable, geographical separation (as in Regulation 4) should be used in the qualifying rounds.


7. ADDITIONS TO THE DRAW

The Referee shall be responsible for making all decisions regarding additions to the draw.

a) The Referee shall only allow the addition of a player/pair to a draw if both Regulations 7a(i) and 7a(ii) are met:

     i) Written documentation is available that the player/pair submitted an entry for the draw, and the entry was accepted by the Tournament Director prior to the draw being made.

     ii) The player/pair was inadvertently omitted from the draw, and play in that draw has not begun.

b) In doubles, a player who submitted a "partner request" at the time of entry and for whom no partner was available at the time the draw was made, shall not be added into the draw if a partner becomes available at a later time. The player shall be added to the waitlist. 

c) If a player (singles) / pair (doubles) withdraws prior to the start of the event, then the player/pair to be added to the draw shall take the place of the withdrawn entry provided that the player/pair to be added to the draw would not have been a seed in the original draw, or provided that both the player/pair that withdraws and the player/pair to be added are in the same seeding group. If there are multiple withdraws then the player/pair to be added to the draw shall take the place of a withdrawn team that had originally drawn a bye. If necessary the position shall be drawn by lot.

d) If a player/pair is to be added to a draw and there are no withdraws, then the original draw shall be expanded according to Table 1 provided that the player/pair to be added to the draw would not have been a seed in the original draw. The additional first round match created by expansion of the original draw shall be between the player/pair added to the draw and the player/pair originally placed in a bye position but now required to play a first round match according to Table 1. Regulation 4 shall not be applied.

e) If the player/pair to be added to the draw would have been a seed in the original draw and Regulation 7c does not apply, then a new list of seeds shall be created and the draw shall be redrawn in its entirety.


8. ALTERATIONS TO THE DRAW

The Referee shall be responsible for making all decisions regarding alterations to the draw. No changes may be made to the official draw except as provided in Regulations 6d, 7, 8a, and 8d. In particular, no singles player may be moved from one draw position to another, and no doubles pair may be moved from one draw position to another except in the situation described in Regulation 7d. 

a) The Referee shall only be permitted to make an alteration to the draw if either Regulation 8a(i) is met, or if both Regulations 8a(ii) and 8a(iii) are met:

     i) Play in that draw has not begun, and an error has been made in accordance with control of entries e.g., processing entry forms, or in making the draw (Regulations 2 to 5). 

     ii) Prior to his/her first scheduled match, a player(s) is prevented from competing through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance; 

     iii) The substitute player(s)/pair and would have been either unseeded, or seeded in no higher a seeding group (3/4, 5/8, etc.) than the seeding group of the original player/pair. The seeding groups are (in order) 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 to 8, 9 to 16, shadow seed, unseeded.

b) In applying Regulations 8a(ii) – 8a(iii), promotions from the qualifying round under Regulation 6d take priority over substitutions under Regulations 9d and 9e. 

c) Promotions and substitutions are not subject to the requirements of Regulation 4. 

d) The Referee may elect to re-draw a particular draw in its entirety if in the Referee's sole opinion the draw has been rendered significantly imbalanced due to the withdraw of players and play in that draw has not begun. 

9. SUBSTITUTIONS IN THE DRAW

a) A substitution is only permitted when both Regulations 8a(ii) and 8a(iii) are met. Such substitution can only take place until the first match of that player/pair has started, but once started, no substitution can take place. 

b) The position of no other player/pair in the draw shall be affected by a substitution except for the situation described in Regulation 9e(iii). 

c) A substitute player is subject to any local entry restrictions regarding the maximum number of events allowed or the combination of events permitted according to the entry form. 

d) Substitution in Singles: The substitute player must be on the waitlist for that singles event. 

e) Substitution in Doubles: Substitution in doubles is only permitted if the constitution of no other pair is affected. 

      i) If one player in a doubles pair is prevented from competing through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance, then that pair as a whole shall be substituted for by a doubles pair on the waitlist for that particular event. If there are no doubles pairs on the waitlist then the player in the original doubles pair unable to compete through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance shall be substituted for by a player on the waitlist for that particular event. If the remaining player in the original partnership chooses not to play with a player from the waitlist, then both players in the original partnership shall be substituted for by players on the waitlist. If there are no players on the waitlist then the player in the original doubles pair unable to compete through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance may be substituted for by a player who entered the tournament but who did not enter the particular doubles event.

      ii) If both players in a doubles pair are prevented from competing through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance, then that pair as a whole shall be substituted for by a doubles pair on the waitlist for that particular event. If there are no doubles pairs on the waitlist then the original pair shall be substituted for by two players on the waitlist for that particular event.

     iii) If two players in different pairs in a particular event are prevented from competing through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance, then the remaining players from the two original pairs may partner each other. In this situation, if one of the original pairs has drawn a bye, that place in the draw shall be filled by the reconstituted pair; if both or neither of the original pairs has drawn a bye then the place of the reconstituted pair shall be drawn by lot. The remaining vacant spot in the draw shall be filled by a pair on the waitlist for that particular event or, if there are no pairs on the waitlist, by two players on the waitlist for that particular event.

f) Regulation 9e(iii) has priority over Regulation 9e(i).

g) A player (singles), a player as part of a pair (doubles), or a pair losing a match shall not play again in the same event in the same tournament.

h) In the interests of the tournament e.g., time constraints, the Referee may elect not to permit a substitution otherwise allowed under Regulation 9.

10. DEFAULTS

The Referee shall be responsible for making all decisions regarding defaults.

a) A player/pair that is not ready to play ten minutes after their match is called onto court is subject to default.

b) If it is known before the match is called onto court that a player has been unavoidably delayed, the Referee may elect to hold that player's match until a time no later than the scheduled time of the next match in that event of the player or his/her opponent, whichever is earlier.

c) A player shall be granted a 30 minute break between matches, if requested.

 

c) If there are 7-12 players/pairs, there shall be two pools (pool A and pool B). 

d) If there are 13-24 players/pairs, there shall be four pools (pool A, pool B, pool C, and pool D). 

e) If there are more than 24 players/pairs, the USAB Court Officials Advisory Group shall determine the pool play format. 

f) The distribution of players/pairs to each pool shall be as even as possible. 

g) There shall be no geographical separation of players in USAB Trial events.

h) Drawing of the players/pairs into pools shall be made using a double-blind draw – one to determine the player, and one to determine the pool and the position (line) within the pool, subject to Regulation 2 below.

i) Each player/pair shall play every other player/pair in their pool once. The order of play shall be determined by the USAB Court Officials Advisory Group prior to the seeding and drawing of players/pairs into the pool(s). 

j) After the completion of pool-play the rank order of players/pairs in each pool shall be determined by Regulation 6 below.


2. SEEDS

a) For Adult Trial events, the seeded players/pairs shall be determined according to Regulations 2a – 2d of the USAB Tournament Regulations.

c) Seeds shall be placed as follows:

   i) If there is only one pool, no players/pairs are seeded.

   ii) If there are 7 players/pairs, one seed shall be drawn into each of the two pools.

   iii) If there are 8-12 players/pairs, there shall be two pools and four seeds. The top two seeds shall be drawn one into each pool and the remaining two seeds shall be drawn one into each pool.

   iv) If there are 13-15 players/pairs, there shall be four pools and four seeds. One seed shall be drawn into each pool.

   v) If there are 16-24 players/pairs, there shall be four pools and eight seeds. The top four seeds shall be drawn one into each pool. The remaining four seeds shall be drawn one into each pool. 

   vi) There shall be no shadow seeds in USAB Trial events.

 

 

 

      ii) Prior to his/her first scheduled match, a player(s) is prevented from competing through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance; 

     iii) The substitute player(s)/pair and would have been either unseeded, or seeded in no higher a seeding group (3/4, 5/8, etc.) than the seeding group of the original player/pair. The seeding groups are (in order) 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 to 8, unseeded.

b) In applying Regulations 4a(ii) – 4a(iii), additions to the draw under Regulation 3c take priority over substitutions under Regulations 5d and 5e. 

c) If prior to the start of play in a particular event a player/pair withdraws and there are no permissible substitutes according to Regulation 5, then in order to rebalance the sizes of the pools the Referee shall, if necessary, draw at random an unseeded player/pair from a larger size group and move that player/pair to the place vacated by the withdrawn player/pair in the smaller size pool. A seeded player/pair may not be moved from one pool to another even if it is a seeded player/pair that withdraws. No modification to the list of seeds shall be made if a seed withdraws or if the withdraw of a player/pair results in a reduced number of entries that would otherwise lead to a decreased number of seeds according to Regulation 2c. 

d) The Referee may elect to re-seed and re-draw a particular draw in its entirety if in the Referee's sole opinion the draw has been rendered significantly imbalanced due to the withdraw of one or more seeds and play in that draw has not begun. 

 

a) A substitution is only permitted when both Regulations 4a(ii) and 4a(iii) are met. Such substitution can only take place until the first match of that player/pair has started, but once started, no substitution can take place.

b) The position of no other player/pair in the draw shall be affected by a substitution except for the situation described in Regulation 5e(iii). 

c) A substitute player is subject to any local entry restrictions regarding the maximum number of events allowed or the combination of events permitted according to the entry form. 

d) Substitution in Singles: The substitute player must be on the waitlist for that particular singles event. 

e) Substitution in Doubles: Substitution in doubles is only permitted if the constitution of no other pair is affected. 

      i) If one player in a doubles pair is prevented from competing through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance, then that pair as a whole shall be substituted for by a doubles pair on the waitlist for that particular event. If there are no doubles pairs on the waitlist then the player in the original doubles pair unable to compete through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance shall be substituted for by a player on the waitlist for that particular event. If the remaining player in the original partnership chooses not to play with a player from the waitlist, then both players in the original partnership shall be substituted for by players on the waitlist. If there are no players on the waitlist then the player in the original doubles pair unable to compete through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance may be substituted for by a player who entered the tournament but who did not enter the particular doubles event. 

      ii) If both players in a doubles pair are prevented from competing through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance, then that pair as a whole shall be substituted for by a doubles pair on the waitlist for that particular event. If there are no doubles pairs on the waitlist then the original pair shall be substituted for by two players on the waitlist for that particular event.

     iii) If two players in different pairs in a particular event are prevented from competing through illness, injury, or other unavoidable hindrance, then the remaining players from the two original pairs may partner each other. In this situation, if the two original pairs were drawn into pools of different size, then the reconstituted pair shall be placed in the vacant spot in the smaller sized pool; otherwise the place of the reconstituted pair between the two vacant spots shall be drawn by lot. The remaining vacant spot in the draw shall be filled by a pair on the waitlist for that particular event or, if there are no pairs on the waitlist, by two players on the waitlist for that particular event.

f) Regulation 5e(iii) has priority over Regulation 5e(i).

g) In the interests of the Trial e.g., time constraints, the Referee may elect not to permit a substitution otherwise allowed under Regulation 5.

6. RANKING OF PLAYERS/TEAMS AFTER POOL MATCHES

The ranking of players/pairs in a pool after all the matches between players/pairs in that pool are completed shall be established as follows:

a) Ranking will be established by the number of matches won.

b) If two players/pairs have won the same number of matches, the winner of the match between them will be ranked higher.

c) If three or more players/pairs have won the same number of matches, ranking will be established by the difference between total games won and total games lost, with greater difference ranked higher.

     i) If this still leaves two players/pairs equal, the winner of the match between them will be ranked higher.

d) If three or more players/pairs have won the same number of matches and are equal in the difference between total games won and total games lost, ranking will be established by the difference between total points won and total points lost, with greater difference ranked higher.

     i) If this still leaves two players/pairs equal, the winner of the match between them will be ranked higher.

     ii) If three or more players/pairs are still equal, then ranking will be established by drawing lots.

e) If illness, injury, disqualification or other unavoidable hindrance prevents a player/pair from completing all their pool matches, or if a player/pair chooses not to complete all their pool matches, then all the results of that player/pair shall be deleted prior to determination of the pool ranking order. Retiring during a match shall be considered to be not completing all pool matches.

7. ELIMINATION ROUND

Once pool-play has been completed and the final positions of the players/pairs in each group have been determined using Regulation 6 above, an elimination round to determine the final ranking order shall take place as follows.

a)  If there is only one pool, the pool rank order is the final ranking order and there is no elimination round.

b)  If there are two pools, the elimination round shall consist of the winner of pool A playing the runner-up of pool B and the winner of pool B playing the runner-up of pool A. The winning players/pairs of these two matches advance to play each other for first and second place, while the losing players/pairs advance to play each other for third and fourth place. If it is desired to determine the fifth through eighth place finishers then a separate elimination round shall be played consisting of the third place finisher of pool A playing the fourth place finisher of pool B and the third place finisher of pool B playing the fourth place finisher of pool A. The winning players/pairs of these two matches advance to play each other for fifth and sixth place, while the losing players/pairs advance to play each other for seventh and eighth place.

c)  If there are four pools, the elimination round shall consist of the top two players/pairs from each pool.

       i) The elimination round draw shall be announced and made by the Referee in the presence of witnesses after completion of all the pool play matches in that event.

     ii) The winner of the pool containing the top seed shall be at the top of the elimination round draw and the winner of the pool containing the second seed shall be at the bottom of the elimination round draw. The winners of the other two pools shall be drawn randomly into the two remaining quarters of the elimination round draw. The runner-up players/pairs from each pool shall be drawn randomly into the remaining positions of the elimination round draw such that the winner and runner-up players/pairs from each pool are in different halves of the elimination round draw.

       iii) The winning players/pairs of the two semi-final matches shall play each other for first and second place, while the losing players/pairs of the two semi-final matches shall play each other for third and fourth place.

       iv) If it is desired to determine the fifth through eighth place finishers then the losers of the two matches in the top half of the elimination draw first round shall play each other, and the losers of the two matches in the bottom half of the elimination draw first round shall play each other. The winning players/pairs of these two matches advance to play each other for fifth and sixth place, while the losing players/pairs advance to play each other for seventh and eighth place.

d) If a player/pair completed all their pool matches and finished in a high enough position to compete in the elimination round but is unable to or chooses not to do so, then that player/pair shall not be replaced by any other player/pair in the elimination round.

e) If a player/pair does not complete a match in the elimination round then they shall not take any further part in that event. Any subsequent match for that player/pair in the elimination round shall be considered a walkover for the opponent. The player/pair who did not complete an elimination round match shall be credited with a final position according to their results actually obtained e.g., i) a player/pair who loses in the semi-finals of the elimination round but chooses not to play the 3rd/4th place match finishes in fourth position; or ii) a player/pair who retires due to injury during the quarter-finals of the elimination round finishes in eighth position.

8. DEFAULTS

The Referee shall be responsible for making all decisions regarding defaults.

a) A player/pair that is not ready to play ten minutes after their match is called onto court is subject to default.

b) If it is known before the match is called onto court that a player has been unavoidably delayed, the Referee may elect to hold that player's match until a time no later than the scheduled time of the next match in that event of the player or his/her opponent, whichever is earlier.

c) A player shall be granted a 30 minute break between matches, if requested.

9. OTHER USA BADMINTON POOL PLAY (NON-TRIAL) EVENTS

It is recommended that all other USA Badminton pool play (non-Trial) events adopt Regulations 3 - 8. At a minimum, rankings of players/pairs in all USA Badminton pool play (round robin) events must be determined according to Regulation 6 above.