A metagame of karate

The Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB) hold national championships each year at Crystal Palace, London. The team event consists of five-person teams in a standard knockout tournament. At each stage of the tournament a team must decide in which order the players must compete. They must do this in absence of knowledge of the opposing team's chosen order and with a view to optimizing the total expected final score of the team. It is apparent that some thought is put into this decision and the purpose of this article is to consider if OR has something to offer in the way of advice.