Mark I.

Ramirez
2BSA3A

Tournament Formats for Badminton and Table Tennis

Having similar tournament formats, the two included in this compilation are the ones most
used in tournaments. We are also listing the pros and cons of each tournament format and its
representation in bracket format.

Single-Elimination Format
A single-elimination tournament—also called an Olympic system tournament,
a knockout (or, knock-out), single penetration, or sudden death tournament—is a type
of elimination tournament where the loser of each bracket is immediately eliminated from
winning the championship or first prize in the event.
The greatest appeal of the single-elimination tournament is its simplicity. Losers are
eliminated, and winners advance to the next round until there is only one contestant left, the
tournament champion. The single-elimination tourney is valuable when the number of entries is
large, time is short, and the number of playing areas is limited. Of all the tournaments, this one
requires the fewest games; however, half the participants are eliminated after one game, and
only one-quarter of the participants remain after the second round. When more extensive
participation is important and more playing areas and time are available, using this tourney is not
advisable. Furthermore, you can easily organize other tournaments in this manual, so the
simplicity of single elimination is not a significant factor in its favor.
Pros:

 The single-elimination format enables a relatively large number of competitors to

participate. There are no "dead" matches (perhaps excluding "classification" matches),
and no matches where one competitor has more to play for than the other.
 Enables the game to be played during time and space restrictions
 It’s simplicity

Cons:

 The format is less suited to games where draws are frequent.

 In a random knockout tournament (single-elimination without any seeding), awarding the
second place to the loser of the final is unjustified: any of the competitors knocked out by
the tournament winner might have been the second strongest one, but they never got
the chance to play against the losing finalist. In general, it is only fair to use a single-
elimination tournament to determine first place.
 Figure 1.1: An example of 8 Team Single Elimination

Formula for getting the number of games in a Single Elimination Tournament:

Games = N-1;
Where N = number of participants.
Example:
An 8-team tournament would have 7 games because:
N=8
Games = N-1; N=1
Games = 8-1
Games = 7
*this also applies to tournament with byes

Double Elimination Format

 A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in
which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having
lost two games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimination tournament, in which only
one defeat results in elimination.
One method of arranging a double-elimination tournament is to break the competitors
into two sets of brackets, the winners’ bracket and losers’ bracket (W and L brackets for short;
also sometimes upper bracket and lower bracket, respectively) after the first round. The first-
round winners proceed into the W bracket and the losers proceed into the L bracket. The W
bracket is conducted in the same manner as a single-elimination tournament, except that the
losers of each round "drop down" into the L bracket. Another method of double-elimination
tournament management is the Draw and Process.

Pros:
 The third and fourth places can be determined without the use of a consolation or
"classification" matches involving two contestants who have already been eliminated
from winning the championship.
 Another advantage of the double-elimination format is the fact that all competitors will
play at least twice and approximately three quarters will play three games or more. In a
single-elimination tournament with no byes, half of the competitors will be eliminated
after their first game. This can be disappointing to those who had to travel to the
tournament and were only able to play once.
Cons:
 Time-consuming
 Large number of games.
Formula for getting the number of games in Double-Elimination Tournaments:
Games = 2N-1 for the maximum number of games, while 2N-2 for the minimum number of
games; where N is equal to the number of games.
Example:
N=8
Games = 2(8) – 1
Games = 16-1; maximum of 15 games and a minimum of 14 games.
*also applies for games with byes.

Round-robin Tournaments
The term round-robin is derived from the French term ruban, meaning "ribbon". Over a
long period of time, the term was corrupted and idiomized to robin.[3][4]
In a single round-robin schedule, each participant plays every other participant once. If
each participant plays all others twice, this is frequently called a double round-robin. The term is
rarely used when all participants play one another more than twice,[1] and is never used when
one participant plays others an unequal number of times (as is the case in almost all of the major
United States professional sports leagues – see AFL (1940–41) and All-America Football
Conference for exceptions).
In the United Kingdom, a round-robin tournament is often called an American
tournament in sports such as tennis or billiards which usually
have knockout tournaments. [5][6][7] In Italian it is called girone all'italiana (literally "Italian-style
circuit"). In Serbian it is called the Berger system (Бергеров систем, Bergerov sistem), after
chess player Johann Berger. A round-robin tournament with four players is sometimes called
"quad" or "foursome"
In theory, a round-robin tournament is the fairest way to determine the champion
among a known and fixed number of participants. Each participant, player or team, has equal
chances against all other opposites. The element of luck is seen to be reduced as compared to
a knockout system since bad performances need not cripple a competitor's chance of ultimate
victory. Final records of participants are, thus, seen to be more accurate as they represent the
results over a longer period against equal competition. This can also be used to determine
which teams are the poorest performers and thus subject to relegation if the format is used in a
multi-tiered league. This is also helpful to determine the final rank of all competitors from
strongest to weakest for purposes of qualification for another stage or competition as well as
for prize money. In team sport the (round-robin) major league champions is generally regarded
as the "best" team in the land, rather than the (elimination) cup winners.

Formula for getting the number of games in Round Robin:

N/2(N-1); where N is the number of teams
Byes
In a standard single-elimination tournament, each round has half the number of teams as
the preceding round. Thus the finals will have two, the semi-finals will have four, the quarter
finals will have eight, etc. Thus tournaments with competitors numbering a power of two can
have a standard bracket in which all teams are paired up with the loser of each match eliminated
and the winner moving on to the next round until only one champion remains.
However, if the number of teams is not a power of two, a simple elimination tournament
will eventually produce a round with an odd number of teams (if the number is not odd to start
with). For example, a tournament of nine teams could only have four matches in the first round,
while a simple tournament of ten teams would produce a second round with five teams, meaning
only four matches could occur.
One method of allowing more teams to compete in tournaments is to give one or more
teams a bye which allows them to automatically pass to a subsequent round without competing.
Most commonly the teams with the highest ranking going into the tournament are given a bye
to the second round, as it is generally seen as an advantage to be assured entry into a later round.

Seeding
A seed is a competitor or team in a sports or other tournament who is given a preliminary
ranking for the purposes of the draw. Players/teams are "planted" into the bracket in a manner
that is typically intended so that the best do not meet until later in the competition. The term
was first used in tennis,[1] and is based on the idea of laying out a tournament ladder by arranging
slips of paper with the names of players on them the way seeds or seedlings are arranged in a
garden: smaller plants up front, larger ones behind.