Hi all
Due to exceptional circumstances, it has become necessary to amend the groups and format for Round 3 of the Open Doubles.
Whilst all care is usually taken to accommodate player’s preference for days of play, it is routinely observed that after Round 1 no promises can be made. After much deliberation, we finalised the groups yesterday with the knowledge that one or two pairs may be inconvenienced by their awarded day of play. Unfortunately there have been a large number of pairs who have since found they are unable to attend on the day they were scheduled.
This has left us with an unprecedented number of players withdrawing due to unavailability and creating a severe imbalance in the groups and potentially creating a Top 12 which is far removed from quality it should be. This makes it unfair on the players who are left with a full complement of players in their group and gives an unfair advantage to those with a vastly reduced group.
I accept that we have had numerous withdrawals in a group in recent years, but given the advance notice and, again, the large number of withdrawals we have this week it was decided to try and avoid this.
Matt Power and myself have spent much of the last two days attempting to accommodate the players who are unavailable, but have been unable to come to a satisfactory solution that will allow all players to participate while maintaining parity within the groups.
In the Tournament’s best interests, therefore, we have decided to amend the format of Round 3. This will now be contested in 4 groups of 6 players, with the top 3 in each group qualifying for the Top 12. It will be contested over 4 round robins, not three, so it is now 20 frames, not 21, a change of 1 frame. All groups will now be held at The Maram, two groups each day.
Please be aware that this is not a decision that we have come to lightly, nor is it our preferred format, and advice and approval was sought and received from the Core Executive before moving ahead with this action. We have also not made this amendment to appease any player or players, but felt that it was in everyone’s best interests to allow all qualifying players to participate only due to the large number it will affect.
Note that these are exceptional circumstances and it is highly unlikely that these conditions will apply again in an ACTEBA Tournament. The normal rules of no guarantees of preferred days of play after round 1 will still be enforced in future tournaments.
Please find attached the revised groups and note that no further changes will be possible under any circumstances.
http://www.acteba.com.au/downloads/2011_Open_Doubles_Round3_Groups_UPDATE.xls
Regards
Chris Jones
ACTEBA Tournament Director
0403 545 619
