2022 was the centennial — the 100th year — of lawn bowls proper at YC&AC.
The centennial season began on Saturday May 21 with the Spider, which was won by the Lesser Spotted Mr. Kasama, seen here wearing the champion’s one-of-a-kind polo shirt and holding wine bottle aloft.
The Opening Day Tournament proper was won by Shinya Fujiwara, Yasu Kojima and Shigeo Yasuda.
With 30 bowlers each donating the price of admission and/or optional additional donations, by the end of the first day the Centennial Fund was already 116,100 yen to the good.
Over the course of the season, with entry fees to most competitions being allocated to the Centennial Fund, we raised 183,100 yen in total. YC&AC also received a very significant donation from one bowler intended for use by the lawn bowls section. Details of how the money donated has been and will continue to be spent (or saved) on improvements to the lawn bowls life at YC&AC will be shared separately in due course. Bear with us.
Before then, and not before time, here’s a quick review of another fun-packed season of lawn bowls action at YC&AC.
The competitive season came to an end on Saturday November 26, with the Closing Day Tournament attracting 24 bowlers bent on a last tilt at some silverware. Triples was played, and the winners were Makoto Honjo, Hiroko Kojima and Shigeo Yasuda. You will all be delighted to hear that the misplaced trophy, not in photo, has recently been rediscovered. Guess where!
After the tournament, we gathered on the roof deck for the awards.
The ceremonials began with recognition of YC&AC representatives’ strong showing in Bowls Japan competition in 2022. We had representatives competing in the finals of all the national tournaments: Men, Women and Mixed; Singles, Pairs, Triples and Fours.
For brevity, plaudits here only to those YC&AC bowlers who finished in the medal positions…
To George Ishiguro, Tom Tyrrell, Saori Hamada and Hideaki Ando, who won the Fours, with both the qualifying and the final rounds being held at the Showa Memorial Park in Tachikawa. This was the first time a YC&AC team has won the Fours, so congratulations once again to them — and us!
Kazuko Yasuda and Hiroko Kojima finished third in the Women’s Pairs, held at YC&AC. Nice bowling.
And Terry Potticary reached the final of the Men’s Singles, held at Shiawasenomura in Kobe. A fantastic effort by Terry this on an unfamiliar surface, and oh so close.
Meanwhile back at the ranch…
The Sunday Morning League, Saturday Morning League, and Nations Cup competitions have been reviewed elsewhere.
The winners of the Club Championships were as follows:
Husband & Wife victors for the third season in a row were George and Yoko Ishiguro. These bowlers practice quite a bit together and that practice continues to pay off! Yoko was also on the winning Saturday Afternoon League team with Alex Hendy and Terry Potticary, and on the Pairs team with Motoko Tsuyama that caused quite the fright, eliminating the Pair of Marcel Niederhauser and Tom Zimmermann in the quarters before a narrow semi-final defeat to the eventual champions.
Mixed Pairs winners were Seishi Yoda and Saori Hamada.
Pairs Handicap? Seishi Yoda again, with Foster Klug.
The Pairs, for the third time in five years, was won by Russell Brown and Alex Hendy.
Men’s Singles Handicap? That man Foster Klug again. Foster was also on the winning Sunday Morning League team with Alex Hendy and Motoko Tsuyama. Foster’s handicap will be coming in quite a bit in 2023.
The Super Seniors was won by Ishu Chugani (not at the party), while the Seniors was won by Makoto Honjo, for the third year on the bounce! Honjo-san was also on the winning Nations Cup team, with Shigemitsu Itoh and Toshi Kurosawa.
The Women’s Singles was won, for the second time in three years, by Motoko Tsuyama. Motoko was also on the winning Sunday Morning League team, see above, and in the Pairs team with Yoko Ishiguro that only narrowly missed out on a place in the (now open to men and women) Pairs final.
And finally, in more ways than one, the Men’s Singles title was won by me.
All the winners’ names have been added to the Hall of Fame on this website and will be engraved on the trophies — possibly even etched on the honours boards — before the start of the new season.
That’s all folks!
Lawn Bowls 