Deaflympics Technical Regulations
1. TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
The technical committee will be composed of the Technical Director of DEAFLYMPICS and four members appointed by the Organising Committee:
Josette Rasq-Robinson - DEAFLYMPICS Technical Director
Daniel Whykes - Tournament Director (Tennis Victoria)
Denis Overberg - Referee (Tennis Victoria)
Darren Roberts - Deaf Representative
Jennifer Bernal - Sports Liaison Officer - M2005 Deaflympics
2. PROTEST COMMITTEE
Josette Rasq-Robinson - DEAFLYMPICS Technical Director
Daniel Whykes - Tournament Director (Tennis Victoria)
Denis Overberg - Referee (Tennis Victoria)
Jennifer Bernal - Deaf Representative
3. COMPETITION VENUE
The Tennis competitions will take place at the courts of the Boroondara Tennis Centre. Number of courts and type of surface: 10 courts with Synthetic Grass (Slat Pile)
4. TRAINING VENUE
The training site is the same as the competition venue. Training will be conducted according to a training schedule. The official training days are January 2-5.
5. EQUIPMENT
All equipment and implements will comply with ITF Rules. The balls will be Wilson double core Tennis balls.
6. EVENTS
The 20th Deaflympic Games Tennis competition will comprise the following events: Men's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Singles, Women's Doubles, Mixed Doubles.
7. SCHEDULE
Refer to the competition schedule on this website.
8. REGULATIONS
8.1. Rules: The Tennis competitions of the 20th Deaflympic Games will be conducted in accordance with the Rules of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). In case of disagreement in the interpretation of the Rules, the English text shall prevail. Any unforeseen incidents not covered by the Rules will be dealt with as follows:
8.1.1. Cases of a general nature will be resolved in accordance with DEAFLYMPICS Statutes.
8.1.2. Technical questions shall be resolved in accordance with the ITF Rules.
8.1.3. Only athletes who comply with the DEAFLYMPICS Statutes and Regulations are entitled to take part in the 20th Deaflympic Games Tennis competitions.
8.2. Participants: Each National Association may nominate a maximum of four (4) men and four (4) women plus two (2) alternates of each.
8.2.1. No reserves or substitutes are allowed for the singles. The composition of a pair may be changed only if an association has entered less than four men and four women for the doubles and one of the players originally entered in a pair forfeits by a doctor's declaration. However, no changes may be made after the draw has taken place.
8.3. Entries:
8.3.1. Preliminary registrations with an indication of the probable number of athletes in each sport and event must have been submitted to the DEAFLYMPICS Secretariat no later than 15 December 2003.
8.3.2. The final registrations with the names of each athlete indicating sport and event entered must have been submitted to M2005 no later than 1 December 2004. Such submissions may be made by telefax if followed by the official registration form.
8.3.3. No changes or additional entries will be accepted after this time.
8.3.4. A fine of USD $20 is levied on each non-starting athlete with the exception of those presenting a doctor's declaration that he/she should not be allowed to start.
8.4. Medical Control: See DEAFLYMPICS' General Rules for All Sports, Article 1.4 - Control and Sanctions.
9. COMPETITION RULES AND REGULATIONS
9.1. Technical Organisation: The DEAFLYMPICS is responsible for the technical organisation of the Tennis competitions.
9.2. Draw: The draw for all events will be conducted in accordance with ITF Rules and Regulations. An appropriate number of players and pairs (two, four, eight) will be seeded in each event by the technical committee at the technical meeting. The seeding will be based on DEAFLYMPICS four year international ranking Tennis system. In case of disagreement the DEAFLYMPICS Technical Director alone will decide the seeding.
* Tier 1 - Deaflympics
* Tier 2 - Regional Championships
* Tier 3 - DEAFLYMPICS Open
The draw will take place at least two days before the competition begin. Entries from any one country shall be drawn as follows:
* The first and second ranked entries by lot in opposites halves of the draw.
* The third and fourth ranked entries by lot in the quarters where first and second ranked are not drawn.
Number of seeds: For a draw of 32 or more: 8 seeds
For a draw of 16 or more: 4 seeds
9.3. Competition plan: All match results will be determined by the best of three sets, except for the finals in the men's singles and the men's doubles, which shall be determined by the best of five sets. A 7 point tiebreak shall be used in each set throughout the competition, except in a deciding final set, which shall be an advantage set.
9.4. Referee: The referee shall be selected by the Organising Committee. The referee shall be fully qualified and certified by the ITF. The referee shall act in concert with the DEAFLYMPICS Technical Director. However, in matters concerning the interpretation of the rules of Tennis, the referee's decision shall be final.
9.5. Officials: The Organising Committee shall appoint an appropriate number of chair umpires, line judges, etc.
For the preliminary rounds the games will be officiated by roaming umpires. A chair umpire and five (5) lines people will be used on each court from the quarter finals onwards.
Ball boys/girls will be used from the semi finals onwards.
9.6. Protests:
9.6.1. Procedure for lodging a protest: All sport related protests will be resolved in accordance to ITF Regulations and will be managed by the Sporting Protest Committee. Any official protest must be submitted in writing on the Official DEAFLYMPICS Protest Form, and given to the DEAFLYMPICS Technical Director accompanied by $USD50.
The DEAFLYMPICS Technical Director will decide whether the protest is sporting related or eligibility related. The Sporting Protest Committee will review all sport related protests, and the Deaflympics Executive Committee will review all eligibility protests. The deposit of $USD50 will be returned to the appellant only if the protest is considered valid.
9.6.2 Procedures for reviewing a protest: The sporting protest committee will meet in the Technical Directors office at Boroondara at a time decided upon by the chairperson of the committee.
* The DEAFLYMPICS Technical Director will be the chairperson of the committee.
* The Sports Liaison Officer (SLO) will be responsible to book the meeting room and interpreters.
* The Sports Liaison Officer (SLO) will contact all committee members to inform them of the meeting time and location.
* The DEAFLYMPICS Technical Director will be responsible for liaising with the State Sports Association Tournament Director.
The Sports Liaison Officer (SLO) will be responsible for informing Games Headquarters GHQ and the DEAFLYMPICS Technical Director will be responsible for informing Deaflympics Executive about the protest and also the outcome of the protest.
9.7. Clothing: All players shall dress and present themselves for play in a sportsmanlike manner. Clean and customarily acceptable tennis attire shall be worn. Colours are allowed. Sweatshirts (except in warm-up), gym shorts, dress shirts or any other inappropriate attire shall not be worn during a match. The Referee may instruct a change of attire.
9.8. Hearing aids: The use of hearing aids is strictly forbidden during competition.
10. TECHNICAL MEETING
The Tennis Technical Meeting will be on January 4 2005 at Melbourne Town Hall starting at 9.00am. Each participating team may be represented by two officials, of whom at least one must be deaf and, if necessary, one interpreter.