PCL Tournament Guidelines

The Pickleball Champions League Asia Philippines Season 2 is the national stage where the country’s best clubs battle for pride, prizes, and the chance to represent the Philippines at the Asia Finals in China. With only 8 teams competing, every match is a fight for glory.

Tournament Format

The tournament, which will be played MLP Style, will be a 2-day event with a round robin format on the first day to determine seeding (Nov 15) and a single elimination bracket on the second day (Nov 16) to determine which team advances to the PCL Finals in China.

SCORING

Round Robin - Rally scoring to 15, no freeze

Elimination Round - rally scoring to 21, with freeze

ROUND ROBIN

Played as follows: Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Mixed Doubles. No Dreambreaker. All 4 games per match will be played regardless of the match score.

SINGLE ELIMINATION

Best of 5 format that will be played as follows:

Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Mixed Doubles, then Dreambreaker.

The first team to win 3 matches will win the match, remaining games, if any, will no longer be played.

SEEDING

Seeding in the Round Robin will be determined by the number of games won. The 1 and 2 seeds will receive a by in the first round of the elimination round, while the 7 and 8 seeds will be eliminated

Seeding will be determined by Games won, with tiebreakers being decided by point differential.

Match Schedules

Match Schedules will be posted beforehand and players are to be responsible for being at their court when their game is about to start. If a prior match ends early for whatever reason, the next teams are expected to be there ready to start their games.

Defaults and Forfeits

A 2-minute grace period will be given to players to report to the court. The countdown shall be started by the referee and announced to the players present on the court.

The score in the event of a default shall be 8-0/12-0 in favor of the present player or pair. If a player sustains an injury during the game that prevents them from continuing, and the team does not have an alternate of the same gender present, the match shall be considered forfeited by the injured player. The score at the time of stoppage shall be the final score if the leading player/pair is ahead. Otherwise, additional points will be awarded to the winning player/pair to ensure a final margin of one point over the defaulting side.

Match Start

Before the start of the match, the referee will perform a coin toss or something similar. The team who wins the call can either decide to serve first or to choose the courtside.

Timeouts

Each team is allowed one (1) 60-second timeout per game.
Water or towel breaks are permitted without using a timeout, provided they do not disrupt the flow of the game. If the game is disrupted, the referee may charge the delaying team's timeout. If the team has already used all its timeouts, the referee may issue a technical warning.

Lineouts

Players on the pickleball court should be responsible for most line calls. The referee will be responsible for any service foot faults, Non-Volley Zone foot faults, short serves, or other Non-Volley Zone rules.
Should the opposing player/team want to challenge the line call of the player/team who made the call, they may ask the referee for his/her call, only if he/she saw the ball.
If a player disagrees with a referee’s ruling, then that player may appeal the ruling to the head referee or tournament director.
However, if the referee’s ruling is correct, then the appealing player/team will lose a time-out and be given a technical warning. If the appealing player/team does not have any time-outs remaining, then the appealing player/team will be given a technical foul. If the referee’s ruling is incorrect, then the players will replay the point and there will be no penalty.

Official Scores

The winning side shall sign the scorecard. Any discrepancies should be addressed to the Tournament Director, who shall make the final decision. All scores will be uploaded to DUPR on the players’ profiles and will affect players’ ratings.

Medical Concerns

In case of a medical emergency on the court, the referee will call a medical time out which lasts for 15 minutes starting from the moment the medic arrives at the court. If a player cannot continue, the team can substitute another player of the same gender. If the team has no substitute available, the opposing team will be given a winning score at 11 points or 2 points above the other team depending on which is relevant.