GREAT, GREATER, GREATEST!

Last year's edition signed another success for the Mizuno Beach Volley Marathon®. The largest sporting event in the world dedicated to Beach volleyball reached extraordinary numbers! An event that never ceases to enrich itself with new features, with an important participation of athletes from all over Europe, Russia, US, Asia, Australia, China and Japan. In May and September 2020, in Bibione (Venice-Italy), professionals and amateurs of the Beach volley specialty of any level of play will compete to boost their passion up. If you haven't lived it at least once, you can't miss it!

Event App

By downloading the "Beach Volley Marathon" application free of charge from the Apple Store or from Google Play, each player can view the match calendars, the results of their own matches, general ranking, the layout of the courts, tournament rules or evening events, etc

Participation

MIZUNO BEACH VOLLEY MARATHON® is open to teams of athletes with no age limit and from any level of play, divided into the following categories: 2x2 Female, 2x2 Male, 2x2 Mixed ( a man and a woman on the court), 3x3 Female, 3x3 Male and 4x4 Mixed (two men and two women on the court). The 2x2 M/F teams can have a reserve each; the 3x3 M/F and the 4x4 Mixed can have two reserves per team. Athletes which are part of one team cannot be part of other teams in the same category. The participation in the tournament involves the acceptance of the "General Regulations".

Team training

Team (athletes list) is determined by entering the names of the athletes in the registration portal, on the page "Teams" > "Participants" entry. Any change to the athletes list (eg: replacement / insertion of new athletes and / or data requested and not previously entered) can always be carried out online after the registration procedure or, alternatively, at check-in; the replacement / insertion of a new athlete (who has not already played matches in the same game category) can also be foreseen during the tournament, before the start of the matches that will determine the prize money, with a formal request to the Director of the tournament which, once verified the regularity, will proceed with the updating of the team's athletes list. The 2x2 M/F teams can have a reserve each; the 3x3 M/F and the 4x4 Mixed can have two reserves per team.  Note: if there will be no conformity between the "athletes list" and the players on the court, the team will be immediately expelled by the tournament, without any prize money and without repechages.

M/F 2x2 formats

M/F 2x2 formats. The 2x2 M/F matches will take place on Friday and Saturday. On Friday there will be the qualifications following the double elimination format between 32 teams: after the first defeat the team will pass to the losing scoreboard; after two defeats the team is disqualified. Only the 32 best teams of the qualifications of Friday will pass to the final section of the tournament  on Saturday.  The matches will be played as a single set to 21 points, with a maximum of 23 points; the final matches (1st -2nd and 3rd -4th places) will be played using the two out of three format, set to 21 points, with a maximum of 23 points and any third set will be played to 15 points with a difference of two points, no point limit. In May, the best 64 teams of the qualifying round for both categories will access to the final round of Saturday, divided into two separate scoreboards: Gold (1 °-32 °) and Silver (33 °-64 °), while in September,  the best 32 teams of the qualifying round for both categories will access to the final.

Mixed 2x2 formats

2x2 Mixed formats. The 2x2 Mixed category matches are played only on Sunday with a qualifying round (up to four draws with  32 teams) following the double elimination format: after the first defeat the team will pass to the losing scoreboard; after two defeats the team is disqualified. The best eight teams from the qualifying round enter the finals; the final rounds are played with knockout matches up to the final match. All the matches (including the final ones) are played  in a single set at 21 points with a limit of 23.

3x3 M/F and 4x4 Mixed formats

3x3 M / F and 4x4 Mixed formats. The match of the 3x3 M / F and 4x4 Misto categories will compete on Saturday and Sunday. The match formula includes a qualification stage (on Saturday) within groups of five teams. At the end of the qualifying round, for each category, a provisional ranking will be drawn up based on the points quotient gained by each team; with the same quotient points, the best positions are assigned on the basis of the registration date. The final round (on Sunday) takes place on the basis of the aforementioned classification with knockout matches up to the final. Saturday and Sunday matches are played in a single set at 21 points with a limit of 23; the only final matches (1st-2nd and 3rd-4th place) are played in a single set at 21 points with a gap of two points without a score limit. For the 3x3 M / F and 4x4 Mixed categories, the best 768 ranked teams in the qualifying phase enter the final round, divided into four different draws: Platinum (1st -192 °); Gold (193 ° -384 °); Silver (385 ° -576 °); Bronze (577 ° -768 °). In the event that a match draw of the final round present less than 32 teams, those teams will be included in the board that precedes it (example: Bronze Scoreboard with 30 teams entered, these will be included in the Silver Board).

Match program

Category 2x2 M/F: Friday (Qualifying round) from 8.30 to 17.30; Saturday (Final round) from 8.30 and with final match starting from 15.30.

Category 2x2 Mixed: Sunday (one day) from 8.30 to 17.30, with final matches starting at 15.30.

Categories 3x3 M/F and 4x4 mixed: Saturday (Qualifying round) from 8.30 to 18.30; Sunday (Final round) from 8.00 and with final match starting from 17.00.  Schedule for the final match may be subject to variation.

Refereeing

Refereeing will be performed in rotation by the same athletes according to the competition program downloaded here and available in the BeachVolleyMarathon App. The final matches will be supervised by federal referees. All matches must be played in accordance with the fair play values, athletes must accept the referee’s decisions and be respectful of all the other participants; otherwise the Director of the Tournament can decide, at his own discretion, to exclude the participant from the tournament without obligation of refunds.

Filling-out reports

All the participants refereeing the matches, have to fill in courts reports they will find on the same courts before the match starts. The final score must be clear, legible and must be signed by both teams for acceptance. In case of non-validation the result of the meeting will still be considered valid and registered. Note: Those results that are not clear, not legible or fake, will not be taken into consideration for the final classification.

Verification of qualifying round results

Check of the qualifying round results. During the qualifying round, teams must verify the accuracy of the final results of their matches displayed on the scoreboard and also in the section of the BeachVolleyMarathon App. Results of the morning matches (8.30 am - 1.00 pm) have to be checked before 2.00 pm; results of afternoon matches (1.30 pm - 6.00 pm) before 7.00 pm. Once the qualifying round have been completed, it will not be possible to request any corrections of results.

Matches won and lost due to forfeit

Matches won and lost by default. In the qualifying round, as result of the matches won or lost by default for the categories 3x3 M/F and 4x4 Mixed will be assigned a score of 21-0 to the losing team. The score will determine the quotient points of the provisional ranking. However no points will be assigned and counted to teams winning the match by default.

Management of delay and concurrences

Teams that arrive on the courts with a delay of more than 20 minutes from the scheduled time assigned or that are missing one or more athletes will be declared defeated by default with a score of 0-21. The referee will take the final decision and declare a team defeated by default after being informed of the lateness from the opposing team and/or the Tournament Director. For teams with one or more athletes playing in different categories, making an exception to what stated above, will be allowed a 40 minutes delay. Beyond this time, the team will be asked by the Director of the Tournament to choose which match they will play and, therefore, which match they will lose by default.

Program and refereeing of the final phase

The rankings at the end of the qualifying phase will be available in the appropriate section of the BeachVolleyMarathon App and website. For the 3x3 M/F and 4x4 Mixed, a text message sent to all team managers will communicate the ranking position of their team at the end of the qualifying phase. The BeachVolleyMarathon App and the website beachvolleymarathon.com will allow you to deduce the matches time and the refereeing scheduled for the final phase. The scheduled timetable for the final phase can also be found on the page "Matchplay draw - Final Matches - Sunday."

Official tournament T-shirt

During the finals (1st - 2nd  and 3rd - 4th places) and for all the matches played on the central main court athletes must wear the official tournament T-shirt. If one or more players of a team do not respect this rule, the all team will lose the match by default.

Unfavourable weather conditions and other external events

Unfavorable weather conditions and other external events. The Mizuno Beach Volley Marathon® will take place despite of any weather condition. Obviously, in certain adverse weather conditions (or other external events) the Directior of the Tournament can decide at his own discretion, to suspend provisionally or permanently the matches and the evening parties without any obligation of refund. In this case, it will be resumed the score set at the time of suspension. For 2x2 M/F categories, in case of permanent suspension of the qualification matches that does not allow to define a final classification, the 32 final teams of these categories will be decided referring to the enrollment date. For 3x3 M/F and 4x4 Mixed categories, when the Tournament Director chooses for the permanent suspension during the qualifying round, the provisional rankings will be drawn up on the basis of the results achieved by each team at the time of suspension; to those teams that have not played any match will be assigned by default a point ratio equal to the average of the points calculated on the matches played in the original category; in case of equal point ratio, the ranking position will be determined by the date of enrollment.

In case of permanent suspension of qualifying round, the prize money will be distributed equally between play draw, and assigned to different ranking positions in the percentages already applied. In case of permanent suspension of the the final round, for each matchplay draw that is still in the running, the prize money, with the exception of the one already awarded, will be equally divided between the teams that were still playing at the time of the suspension. It will be assigned only if the amount per team is not equal or less than €50,00.

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