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Q:How to decide ranking order in round robin event or, in other words, how to break a tie?

- submitted by Loong-Sang Choi on 10 November 97

A: The following is a combination of a loose quote from a very useful and clearly written article on the subject by Colin Clemett in Table Tennis Digest, and the ITTF rule that addresses group competitions.

This important topic still causes a lot of confusion, and some players feel that they have been treated unfairly, should have been ranked higher or should have advanced from the group, when tournament officials ruled otherwise.

In a “round robin” competition, each member of the group plays every other member. Two match points are awarded for a win, one match point for a loss in a played AND COMPLETED match , and no points for a loss in an unplayed or unfinished match. The ranking order shall be determined primarily by the match points gained. If this results in a tie involving only two players, the winner of the match between these two player shall be ranked higher than the looser. When more than two players in the group have gained the same number of match points their relative position shall be determined by considering successively THE RATIOS of wins to losses in individual matches (for a team event), games and points, as far as is necessary to resolve the order. However, after the match points had been considered, and three, four, or any other higher way tie is the result, to determine the ranking of those in a tie, account is taken only of the matches among those equal. Thus, if, for example, in a group of five players initial calculation, based on the number of match points gained, will determine that one of the player is a clear winner of the group, and one comes as # 5 in the group, while the three remaining players each gained the same number of match points, then a new table is constructed involving only those three players. The equalities are then resolved fist according to the match points gained and, if this does not break the three way tie, according to the ratios of wins and losses (first games, then points, if necessary). In the rare and unlikely event that even the ratio of points won to lost does not break the tie, the ranking is decided by drawing lots.

In a match which is unplayed, the “winning” player is assumed to have won the match 3:0 (2:0) with a score in each game 21:0. When a match is started but not finished, for example due to injury, any points and games won by the player who had to step aside, or gave up, remain, but the winner is assumed to have scored 21 points in the number of games needed to complete the match.

Also, it is important to note that the winners advance to single elimination with their ranking they had been assigned based on their performance in the group preceding the single elimination, and NOT ACCORDING TO THE RATING THEY HAD WHEN THEY INITIALLY ENTERED THAT PARTICULAR TOURNAMENT.

Loong played at 1997 Sports Garden Open, Rochester, N.Y. He was the D player in a group of four. When all matches in the round robin had been played he was ranked by the tournament officials as second. According to his report to this Friendly Umpire, the results in his group were as follows:

Player A won his matches against players B and D (2:0 and 2:1, respectively), and lost to player C 0:2.

Player B lost all matches.

Player C won his matches with players A and B (both 2:0), and lost to Loong (player D) 0:2.

Loong (player D lost to player A (1:2), and won his matches with players B and C (2:1 and 2:0, respectively).

Calculation of match points, according to the above schedule reveals that player B, with only three match points, ranks #4, and his results are excluded from any further calculations. The remaining players A, C and D each gained 5 match points, or 3 match points when we neglect matches of these three players with player B, as we should in the second stage of the calculation. Thus, the number of match points gained has not been helpful in resolving the 3-way tie, and we have to resort to THE RATIOS of won to lost games in individual matches INVOLVING ONLY PLAYERS A, C and D. (I urge those seriously interested in this topic to make a separate calculation of THE RATIOS of won to lost games in individual matches INVOLVING ALL FOUR PLAYERS, to see the enormous difference). Simple calculation reveals now that player A scored 2:3, player C scored 2:2, and player D scored 3:2. Consequently, player D, with the highest ratio should have been ranked #1, player C, #2, and player A, # 3.

Thus, whatever other method the tournament officials used at 1997 Sports Garden Open, Rochester, N.Y., it was incorrect and unfair to player D, because this player scored best with the strongest players in the group. And this is the intention of the rule, to rank players according to their performance against the strongest opponents, when the competition is the fiercest.

- answered by Paul Kovac - your friendly on-line USATT umpire