Hendy, Ishiguro & Nakajima Win SML Phase I

Sunday Morning League Phase I began on May 12 and concluded after five rounds of play on June 23.

Team E won the Phase in convincing style, racking up more than 100 points in the five games played while conceding less than half that total. Congratulations to Alex Hendy, Yoko Ishiguro and Hiro Nakajima!

Runners-up were Team F, who recovered from a drubbing in Round 1 to pip Team C for second place on the final day with a 14-12 victory over their closest rivals. What a fantastic comeback, Tomohiro Hamada, Terry Potticary and Kazuko Yasuda!

The final standings in Phase I can be found in the table below.

What happens next?

• Phase II will be played on Sundays September 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29, running into October if necessary depending on number of teams.

• Players who entered Phase I will NOT pay a second admission fee. New players signing up for Phase II must pay the admission fee. The admission fee of 1,500 yen per player is pooled for prizes.

• Teams E and F will remain unchanged for Phase II. The other teams will be broken up, new players will be added to the mix, and a fresh draw will be made to form new triples teams.

• The winners of Phase II will play the winners of Phase I (Team E) in a Grand Final.

• The runners-up of the two Phases will play off to decide third place.

• If the winner of the two Phases is the same (= Team E), that team (Team E) will be declared the winner overall, and the runners-up of both phases will play off to decide second and third place.

• If the winner of Phase I (Team E) finishes runner up in Phase II, the runner up in Phase I (Team F) will play the team finishing third in Phase II to decide third place overall.

• If the runner-up in Phase I (Team F) also finishes runner up in Phase II, that team (Team F) will either be declared the runner-up overall (if the two Phase winners are the same) or be declared third place winner (if the two phase winners are different). In this scenario (Team F finishes runner up in both Phases), there will be no match for third place.