Single Elimination Format

Applies to: Event organisers · Bracket managers

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Single Elimination is the classic knockout format: athletes are paired in a bracket, the loser of each match is eliminated, and the winner advances until a single champion remains. It's the fastest way to produce a ranking for large pools and needs no separate pool phase.

How the bracket works

Athletes are seeded into a knockout tree. Byes are inserted automatically when the number of athletes isn't a power of two, so the bracket always resolves cleanly. Every match must produce a winner: a draw isn't possible in a knockout round, since the loser is eliminated immediately.

How advancement works

Win a match and move to the next round. Lose, and you're out of the bracket, unless one of the consolation options below is enabled. The final match crowns the champion.

Bronze Medal Match

When enabled, the two semifinal losers meet in a separate match for 3rd place, instead of both being awarded joint bronze.

5-8 Place Bracket

When enabled, athletes eliminated in the quarterfinals are placed into a small consolation bracket to determine 5th through 8th place, instead of being ranked only by their elimination round.

Finals Best-Of Series

By default the final is a single match. Enabling a best-of series instead requires the eventual champion to win a majority of a fixed number of matches (3, 5, or 7), useful for federations that want the title decided over multiple bouts rather than one.

Configuration reference

Setting	What it controls	Default
Bronze Medal Match	Adds a separate 3rd place match between semifinal losers	Disabled
5-8 Place Bracket	Adds a consolation bracket for quarterfinal losers	Disabled
Finals Best-Of Series	Decides the final over multiple matches instead of one	Disabled
Series Length	Number of matches in the best-of series (3, 5, or 7)	3

Quick setup walkthrough

1. Open your event and go to Specialities.
2. Click Add Speciality and fill in the name, weight, and gender category.
3. Set Competition Type to Single Elimination (Sparring).
4. Under Format Configuration, enable Bronze Medal Match and/or 5-8 Place Bracket if your federation awards those placements.
5. Optionally enable Finals Best-Of Series and choose a Series Length if the final should be decided over multiple matches.
6. Save the speciality and proceed to register athletes.
7. Once all athletes are registered, open the bracket and click Generate: Hajime will seed and schedule the knockout bracket automatically.