G7 Ranking system altered for 2009

The rules for which events will get included in the G7 Rankings have been altered with pure invite tournaments only counting for 20%.

The major change is that invite tournaments will not be counted in the G7 Rankings, that is unless the invite-only event is "co-ordinated with the G7 and demonstrates acknowledgement of our ranking system by inviting the top 5 teams in our rankings (at least), then the event will be eligible."

"Invite-only events may now constitute no more than 20% of annual points"

Furthermore invite-only events may now constitute no more than 20% of annual points, this is to "ensure that the G7’s top 5 teams are not given an advantage over the rest of the teams in the ranking via the eligibility criteria suggested above."

The reason for invite tournaments not organised along with the G7 is that it is "a safeguard for teams that do not receive invitations to invite-only events, because they should not be punished for situations out of their control."

Also for an event to be included in the ranking (that is not invite-only) previously only one top team needed to be in attendance but now at least two top 10 teams must be present for the event to be counted towards the rankings.

Furthermore G7 teams must announce their participation in an event at least one month prior to the event itself, to allow other teams a chance to make arrangements to attend if they so wish. Therefore "everybody will have the opportunity to participate and nobody can say the event was snuck in."

Summary of main alterations
- Invite tournaments only included if the Top 5 G7 Ranking teams are invited
- Invite tournaments may only constitute 20% of annual points
- For an non invite-only event to be eligible for rankings, at least two top G7 10 teams must be in attendance.
- G7 teams must announce their attendance at an event one month prior to it taking place to the other G7 members.

Read the entire section regarding event eligibility on the G7 website.