And the Winners Were…

What better way to wrap up a season jam-packed with lawn bowls than with a marathon Closing Day Tournament!

The event was held on the “morning” of Saturday, November 30, and was followed by an Awards Afternoon Tea.

Twenty-two players braved the chilly early start and formed triples teams using a bespoke seeded handicap system.

The air was so crisp it was possible to see people snowboarding on Mt. Fuji

As was the case with almost everything else this season, completing the round robin took much longer than your Captain had calculated (my apologies again), and it was a weary group of bowlers who trudged into Mollison’s for refreshments after the competition.

Some of the last action of the grueling 2019 season

Winners of the three-woods, three-ends round robin were Team Kazuko, starring Kazuko Yasuda, Toshiharu Saito and Terry Potticary, who finished with a perfect 5-0 record. Runners up were Team Shinya, starring Shinya Fujiwara, Ippei Iwasaki and Hiroko Kojima. Congratulations again to them.

At the Awards Afternoon Tea, we called up each of the winners of the Club’s Championships in turn and asked them to say a few words.

The Women’s Singles handicap winner was…

The Men’s Pairs Handicap winners were …

Terry Potticary and (not in picture) Seishi Yoda!

The Men’s Pairs winners were, for the second year in succession …

And the Men’s Singles winner was …

The winners not present or not pictured at the Awards Ceremony were…

Men’s Singles Handicap: Ishu Chugani

Mixed Pairs: Jun Adachi and Motoko Tsuyama

Seniors (for the second year running): Jun Adachi

Super Seniors (for the second year running): Vinod Kumar

After demolishing what was a pretty good buffet, the bowlers went about the business of depleting the Club’s supply of Champagne.

Women’s Singles Handicap runner-up Hiroko Kojima dives in.

Then suddenly, from nowhere, karaoke broke out.

Pioneers of the Bangkok bowling trips Ippei Iwasaki and Toshiharu Saito reprised their party act.

Ippei and Saito-san sing their greatest hit.

In a break between songs, we gifted groundsman Eric and his crew a box of Motomachi Kiku-ya’s famous rum balls (pronounced “lawn bowls”).

Head Groundsman Eric explains the necessity of tools to his trade.

The bowlers rose in appreciation of another season’s fine work on the green.

Thanks a lot, Eric. Thanks also to Efran and Mini.

Just about everyone in the room sang a song. There were some strong candidates for the 500 yen “best song” award, but none stronger than Yasu Kojima, whose duet with wife Hiroko fair bowled us all over.