A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
- One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentrated into a relatively short time interval.
- A competition involving a number of matches, each involving a subset of the competitors, with the overall tournament winner determined based on the combined results of these individual matches. These are common in those sports and games where each match must involve a small number of competitors: often precisely two, as in most team sports, racket sports and combat sports, many card games and board games, and many forms of competitive debating. Such tournaments allow large numbers to compete against each other in spite of the restriction on numbers in a single match.
In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of September. In other team sports, like association football or basketball, it is generally from August or September to May although in some countries – such as Northern Europe or East Asia – the season starts in the spring and finishes in autumn, mainly due to weather conditions encountered during the winter.
Canada competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. Canadian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since 1900, except the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the country's support for the US-led boycott.
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, whose winner becomes the tournament champion. Each match-up may be a single match or several, for example two-legged ties in European sports or best-of series in American pro sports. Defeated competitors may play no further part after losing, or may participate in "consolation" or "classification" matches against other losers to determine the lower final rankings; for example, a third place playoff between losing semi-finalists. In a shootout poker tournament, there are more than two players competing at each table, and sometimes more than one progressing to the next round. Some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a single-elimination final stage, often called playoffs.
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.
A round-robin tournament is a competition in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn. A round-robin contrasts with an elimination tournament, in which participants/teams are eliminated after a certain number of losses.
A Swiss-system tournament is a non-eliminating tournament format that features a fixed number of rounds of competition, but considerably fewer than for a round-robin tournament; thus each competitor does not play all the other competitors. Competitors meet one-on-one in each round and are paired using a set of rules designed to ensure that each competitor plays opponents with a similar running score, but does not play the same opponent more than once. The winner is the competitor with the highest aggregate points earned in all rounds. With an even number of participants, all competitors play in each round.
The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant tennis event in men's annual calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results throughout the season. The eighth spot is reserved, if needed, for a player or team who won a major in the current year and are ranked from 8th–20th. The tournament is sometimes referred to as a "5th Grand Slam," due to the prestige that comes with qualifying for and winning the event.
The men's team table tennis event was part of the table tennis programme and took place between August 13 and 18, at the Peking University Gymnasium. Teams consisted of three members. The sixteen teams were divided into four groups of four teams each, playing a round-robin within their pool. The top team in each pool advanced to the semifinals, with the second-place team from each group going to the bronze medal playoffs. The two semifinal winners met in the gold medal match, while the two semifinal losers each played against one of the winners from the bronze medal playoffs, with the winners of those games meeting in the bronze medal match.
The women's team table tennis event was part of the table tennis programme and took place between August 13 and 17 at the Peking University Gymnasium. Teams consisted of three members. The sixteen teams were divided into four groups of four teams each, playing a round-robin within their pool. The top team in each pool advanced to the semifinals, with the second-place team from each group going to the bronze medal playoffs. The two semifinal winners met in the gold medal match, while the two semifinal losers each played against one of the winners from the bronze medal playoffs, with the winners of those games meeting in the bronze medal match.
The ETTU Cup is the second most important continental tournament for clubs in European table tennis, after the European Champions League. The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) has organized this cup since the 1964-65 season for men teams, and also for women teams a year later.
The Europe Top 16, also known as the Europe Top 16 Cup and previously known as the Europe Top 12, is a table tennis tournament organised annually by the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU), featuring the highest-ranked players in Europe.
The 2006 Euro Beach Soccer League, was the ninth edition of the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL), the premier beach soccer competition contested between European men's national teams, occurring annually since its establishment in 1998. The league was organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) between June 2 and August 27, 2006, in eight different nations across Europe.
The 2007 Euro Beach Soccer League, was the tenth edition of the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL), the premier beach soccer competition contested between European men's national teams, occurring annually since its establishment in 1998. The league was organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) between June 29 and August 26, 2007 in six different nations across Europe.
The boys' singles table tennis event was a part of the table tennis program at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics and took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The tournament started on August 21 with the final on August 23.
The mixed team table tennis event was a part of the table tennis program at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics and took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The tournament started on August 24 with the final on August 26.
The Inline Hockey World Championship is an annual inline hockey tournament organized by World Skate. Prior to the creation of World Skate in September 2017, the championship was administrated by the Comité International Roller In-Line Hockey (CIRILH), an organization and discipline of Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS). It is the sport's highest-profile annual international tournament.
Curling at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics was contested at the Kristins Hall in Lillehammer, Norway from 12 to 21 February. The mixed team event took place from 12 to 17 February, while the mixed doubles tournament took place from 19 to 21 February.
The 2016 WTA Elite Trophy was a women's tennis tournament played at the Hengqin International Tennis Center in Zhuhai, China from 1 to 6 November 2016. It was the second edition of the singles event and doubles competition. The tournament was contested by twelve singles players and six doubles teams.
The ITF Junior Masters is a year-end singles tournament for the top-ranked 18-and-under tennis players on the ITF Junior Circuit. It is the second most prestigious annual junior event in terms of rankings points awarded, after the four junior grand slams. Each year, eight boys and eight girls participate in separate events. The tournament is designed to emulate the ATP Finals and WTA Finals. Each event features two round-robin groups vying for spots in the knockout rounds that determine the champion.
