  Tracking the ball is critical for video-based analysis of team sports.
However, it is difficult, especially in low-resolution images, due to the small
size of the ball, its speed that creates motion blur, and its often being
occluded by players. In this paper, we propose a generic and principled
approach to modeling the interaction between the ball and the players while
also imposing appropriate physical constraints on the ball's trajectory. We
show that our approach, formulated in terms of a Mixed Integer Program, is more
robust and more accurate than several state-of-the-art approaches on real-life
volleyball, basketball, and soccer sequences.
