TERMINOLOGY

Tournament

The top-level event — e.g. "Inter-Club Championship 2026". A tournament has a date, venue, organiser, and one or more events inside it.

Event

A specific competitive category within a tournament, defined by discipline and grade — e.g. "Men's Singles Open" or "Mixed Doubles U19". Each event has its own draw, entry fee, and player list. One tournament can contain many events.

Draw

The bracket or schedule that determines who plays whom within an event. Draws are generated by the organiser after registration closes and published on the Aspire platform.

Format

Whether a tournament is Individual (players or pairs compete directly) or Team (clubs field a squad and compete as a unit across multiple ties per fixture). See Individual vs Team below.

Grade

The competitive tier within a discipline. Under grades (U11–U19) cap entry at an age ceiling. Open grade has no age restriction. Masters grades (35, 40, 45…) set an age floor for older players. See Grades & Age Categories below.

Status — Open

Registration is live. Players can register until spots run out or the deadline passes.

Status — Upcoming

The tournament is confirmed but registration has not yet opened. Check back closer to the date.

Status — Closed

Registration has ended. The tournament may not have taken place yet but no further entries are accepted.

Status — Completed

The tournament has concluded. Full results and draws are available on the Aspire platform.

BS — Boys' Singles

One male player per side. Open to male players aged U11–U19. Used in junior (age-graded) events only.

GS — Girls' Singles

One female player per side. Open to female players aged U11–U19. Used in junior (age-graded) events only.

BD — Boys' Doubles

Two male players per side. Junior-only discipline (U11–U19). Entry fee shown is per player — each player in the pair pays their share.

GD — Girls' Doubles

Two female players per side. Junior-only discipline (U11–U19). Entry fee is per player.

MS — Men's Singles

One male player per side. Open to male players only.

WS — Women's Singles

One female player per side. Open to female players only.

MD — Men's Doubles

Two male players per side. Entry fee shown is per player — each player in the pair pays their share. Open to male players only.

WD — Women's Doubles

Two female players per side. Entry fee is per player. Open to female players only.

XD — Mixed Doubles

One male and one female player per side. Entry fee is per player. Open to all genders — one of each per pair. Used in both junior and adult events.

U11, U13, U15, U17, U19 (Age Grades)

"U" stands for Under — strictly less than that age. Eligibility is determined by your age on January 1 of the tournament year (BWF standard). If you are already that age on January 1, you are not eligible. For the full age cutoff policy, exact birth dates, and enforcement details, see Rules & Eligibility.

Open Grade

No age restriction. Any player, regardless of age, can enter an Open grade event. Most Open grade events carry cash prizes and attract the highest level of competition.

Masters 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 (Masters Grades)

Masters grades are age-floor categories for older players — the reverse of U grades. "Masters 35" means you must be at least 35 years old on January 1 of the tournament year. Sub-divisions go in 5-year bands: Masters 35, Masters 40, Masters 45, Masters 50, Masters 55, Masters 60. These follow the BWF Senior Championships age band structure. Aspire uses the colloquial "Masters" label rather than the BWF official "Senior" label.

One event per discipline rule

A player may only register for one grade per discipline in the same tournament. For example, you cannot enter both U19 BS and Open MS. You can however enter multiple disciplines — e.g. BS U19 and XD Open.

Individual Tournament

Players (or doubles pairs) register and compete directly. Each person or pair chooses which events to enter and pays their own entry fee. The standard format for most competitive badminton tournaments.

Team Tournament

Clubs register as a unit — a squad of players (e.g. 4–8 members). The club competes in fixtures against other clubs. Each fixture is decided over multiple ties (one per discipline: MS, WS, MD, WD, XD). The club that wins the most ties wins the fixture.

Fixture

A team vs team match in a team tournament. Each fixture consists of 5 ties — one per discipline. The fixture winner is the club that takes the most ties (e.g. 3–2). Players can be assigned to a maximum of 2 ties per fixture.

Tie

A single discipline match within a fixture — e.g. the MS (Men's Singles) rubber between two clubs. Each tie is played best of 3 games to 21 points.

Roster

The list of registered players representing a club in a team tournament. Typically 4–8 players. The roster is locked before Day 1 of the tournament — late additions are not accepted.

Pool / Group Stage

In Round Robin team tournaments, clubs are divided into pools and play all other clubs in their pool. Top clubs from each pool advance to semi-finals.

Entry Fee

The cost to enter one event. For singles events, this is per player. For doubles events, the fee shown is per player — each member of the pair pays separately. For team tournaments, the fee is per roster member.

Spots Left

The number of remaining registration slots in an event. Once this reaches zero, the event is full and registration closes automatically.

Registration Deadline

The closing date for entries. After this point, no new registrations are accepted and draws are generated from the confirmed player list.

Aspire ID (AS-ID)

Your unique member identifier on the Aspire platform — e.g. AS-1031. Required at check-in for all tournaments. Also used to look up doubles partners during registration.

Gateway Surcharge

A payment processing fee (currently 4.5%) added on top of the entry fee when paying by card online. Bank transfer payments do not carry a surcharge.

Knockout (Single Elimination)

Lose one match and you're out. Players are seeded into a bracket. The draw size is rounded up to the nearest power of 2 — extra slots are filled with byes. Guarantees 1 match minimum.

Round Robin

Every player or team plays every other exactly once. No early elimination. Final standings by wins, then game difference. Guarantees N−1 matches (where N is the number of players in the draw).

Hybrid

A two-phase format. Phase 1: players are split into small groups (3–4 per group) and play round-robin within the group. Phase 2: top finishers per group advance to a knockout bracket. Guarantees at least 2 matches.

Double Elimination

Two losses are required to be eliminated. Players drop to a loser bracket after their first loss and still have a path to the final. The final is between the winner bracket champion and the loser bracket champion.

Consolation

The main draw runs as knockout. Players who lose in the first round enter a separate consolation bracket and play on for a consolation title. Gives all first-round losers at least one extra match.

Partner

Your doubles teammate. For MD, WD, and XD events, you must link a partner during registration. Both players pay their share of the entry fee as individuals.

Partner Lookup

During registration you can search for your partner by name or Aspire ID (AS-ID). If they are a registered Aspire member they will appear in the directory.

Partner Invite

If your partner is not yet on the Aspire platform, you can send them an email invite during the registration flow. The registration is held pending until they accept and create an account.

Captain

In doubles and team registrations, the person who initiates the registration is the captain. The captain coordinates the pairing and submits the joint entry.

Prize Pool

The total cash amount available across all prize-bearing events in a tournament. Not all tournaments have cash prizes — some award trophies and medals only.

Cash Prize

Awarded to winners and runners-up in Open grade events where a prize pool is declared. Disbursed via bank transfer within 7 days of the final, unless stated otherwise by the organiser.

Trophy / Medal

Physical awards presented at the prize-giving ceremony. Gold for winner, silver for runner-up, bronze for semi-finalists. Attendance at the ceremony is mandatory for all finalists.

Aspire Participation Certificate

A digital certificate issued via the Aspire platform to all players who completed their matches in a certified tournament. Available in your profile after the event.

Seeding

Top-ranked players are placed in the draw to avoid meeting each other in early rounds. Seedings are set by the organiser based on ranking, past results, or membership grade.

Bye

When the draw size is not a perfect power of 2, some players receive a first-round bye — they advance to Round 2 without playing. Byes are distributed to unseeded slots.

Walkover (W.O.)

When a player fails to appear for their match within the allowed time window (typically 15 minutes after first call), they forfeit and the opponent is awarded the win.

Game Difference

Used as a tiebreaker in round-robin standings. Calculated as total games won minus total games lost across all matches. If two players are level on wins, the higher game difference ranks first.

Points Difference

A secondary tiebreaker after game difference. Total points scored minus total points conceded across all matches.