Japan squads book spots in gold-medal matches at Pacific-Asia Curling Championships

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - The Japan men’s and women’s teams both advanced to the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships gold-medal match with semifinal victories on Friday, securing berths at next year’s world championships.

In the women’s event, Japan, the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic bronze medalist, defeated Hong Kong 13-3 to remain undefeated in a return to Gangneung Curling Centre. Japan is set to host South Korea in the final on Saturday.

In the men’s competition, Japan beat New Zealand 8-3 to set up a final with China or South Korea, which face off in their semifinal later Friday. Japan’s only loss in eight round robin matches was at the hands of the undefeated Chinese team.

The top two men’s and women’s teams from the Pacific-Asia event automatically qualify for the world championships starting next March.

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