Tournament rules – Lawn Bowls Association of Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong International Bowls Classic 2010

Tournament Rules

The Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association, the “Controlling Body”, has appointed a “Panel of Umpires” and all decisions by this Panel on the tournament and actual match play shall be final.

The Controlling Body shall have the power to alter or amend the programme of the event as it shall consider necessary or desirable, in view of unfavourable weather or other adverse conditions, and may suspend play temporarily in any game or abandon any game. Any decision to curtail the number of ends to be played shall be made before the commencement of any game, and such decision shall only be due to or on the grounds of shortage of time to complete a programme.

Team members should be wearing matching uniform. Unless with prior approval from the Controlling Body, cream or white trousers/skirts shall be worn – no shorts or jeans. Belts will be white or cream – not black. Proper bowling shoes, in white or brown, should be worn.

SINGLES

The tournament shall be conducted in accordance with the “Laws of the Sport of Bowls, Crystal Mark Edition” of World Bowls.

In the first two rounds, each match will comprise two sets of seven ends. From the third round onward, the match will comprise two sets of nine ends. A set is decided when a player is unable to win or draw in the remaining ends. The winner of the game shall be the player who wins both sets or wins a set and ties a set. In the event of a tie, when each player has won a set or both sets are drawn, a tie-break of three additional ends will be played. The player who gains the most shots will be the winner of the match. If the shot scores are tied after the third end of the tie-breaker, the players should play a fourth tie-breaker end to decide the winner.

Before start of play or on resumption of an unfinished game, not more than one trial end each way shall be played, with two bowls each.
In the first set the players shall toss a coin before the start of the game; the winner of the toss shall have the option to either take the mat and have the jack and first bowl or allow the opponent to have the mat, jack and first bowl in the first set.

In the second set, the winner of the first set has the options described above. If the first set is a draw, the winner of the last scoring end in that set has the options.

During the tie-breaker, the opponents should toss a coin and the winner of the toss has the options described above.

No visit to head until the player has delivered his/her third bowl.
Re-spotting the Jack: If a jack in motion passes completely outside the boundaries of the rink of play, or rebounds to a distance of less than 20 metres from the mat line, the end should not be declared dead. Instead, the jack should be placed with the nearest point of the jack to the mat line at the appropriate spot according to World Bowls Laws, and the game continues until the end.
All players are required to arrive for the game before the scheduled time. Should any player not turn up by the specified competition time, the game will be forfeited to the opposition.

PAIRS

The tournament shall be conducted in accordance with the “Laws of the Sport of Bowls, Crystal Mark Edition” of World Bowls.

The competition will be in a format of round-robin and single elimination in quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. A game will be deemed finished when 18 ends have been completed.

Before start of play or on resumption of an unfinished game, not more than one trial end each way shall be played, with two bowls each.
No visit to the head for the lead.
All players are required to arrive for the game before the scheduled time. Should any player not turn up by the specified competition time, the team will forfeit the game to the opposition, with a shots difference of minus nine.
With the approval from the Panel of Umpires, substitute players will only be allowed when an original player is deemed unable to play due to injury / sickness. Only one substitute will be allowed for each team and they can only play as lead.
Where points are equal, the shots difference shall decide the teams for the quarter-finals.
In the event of equality in point 6 above, the result of the game already played between the two teams shall decide the winner.
If equality still exists after point 7, then the following shall determine the qualifiers :
Section winners shall be decided on the basis of two points for a win and one point for a tie. The top four teams from each section will qualify for the quarter-finals.
a)     Total shots for;
b)     If still equal, the most ends won;
c)      If still equal, the toss of a coin will decide the winner.
The line up of the quarter-finals will be decided by draw. The top teams from each group will be separated from the rest so that they will not face each other in the quarter-finals. Decided by draw, their opponents will be from the second to fourth ranked teams of the other Group. For the remaining two teams from each group, we will draw to pair them up with an opponent from the other group. The draw will be conducted when the results of the round robin games are finalised.
QF1    1^st of Group A                       vs        2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th of Group B
QF2    2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th of Group A       vs        2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th of Group B
QF3    2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th of Group A       vs        2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th of Group B
QF4    2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th of Group A       vs        1^st of Group B
The line up of the semi-finals will be as follows:
SF1 Winner of QF1 vs Winner of QF2
SF2 Winner of QF3 vs Winner of QF4
Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final: In the event of a tie after the 18^th end has been completed an extra end or ends shall be played until a decision has been reached.

The Controlling Body reserves the right to disqualify from the Tournament any participant for misconduct or non-compliance with these Tournament Rules.

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