CHAMPION: Matsumura Wins 2019 ZEN-NOH Japan Curling Championships

SKIP
Yuta
Matsumura

Third
Tetsuro
Shimizu

Second
Yasumasa
Tanida

Lead
Shinya
Abe

Yuta Matsumura (Sapporo, JPN) won 6-2 over Junpei Kanda (Tokyo, JPN) in the Final of the ZEN-NOH Japan Curling Championships, held February 12 - 17, 2019 in Sapporo, Japan.

Matsumura finished 7-1 in the 9-team qualifying round. . In their opening game, Matsumura defeated Kanda 6-3, then won 9-2 against Tomonori Matsuzawa (Sapporo, JPN) and 8-2 against Naomasa Takeda (Sapporo, JPN). Matsumura won 8-5 against Hayato Matsumura (Karuizawa, JPN), then won 9-3 against Yasuhiro Morita (Kyoto, JPN) and 6-2 against Daiki Shikano (Sapporo, JPN). Matsumura went on to lose 4-3 against Masaki Iwai (Sapporo, JPN). Matsumura responded with a 12-5 win over Juon Ishimura (Aomori, JPN) in their final qualifying round match.

For winning the ZEN-NOH Japan Curling Championships Championship title, Matsumura earned 20.781 world rankings points, remaining in 21st place overall on the World Ranking Standings with a net gain of 14.886 after improving upon their best so far this season. Matsumura ranks 21st overall on the Year-to-Date rankings with 165.873 points earned so far this season.

RECORD	W	L	T	PCT	HMR	STL	1PT	EEH	EES

SCORING	ENDs	PF	PA	PF/G	PA/G	+/-	EF/G	EA/G	PF/E	PA/E	BE/G

WITH HAMMER	ENDs	PF	PA	BE	4s	3s	2s	PF/E	PA/E	HE	SD

WITHOUT HAMMER	ENDs	PF	PA	BE	4s	3s	2s	PF/E	PA/E	FE	SE

Manitoba's Kate Cameron (Photo: Curling Canada) announced on Monday that the team will look different for the new Olympic quadrennial.