Hayato Sato (Sapporo, JPN) lost
7-1 to
Brad Gushue (St. John's, NL) in the Final of the Karuizawa International, held December 1 - 3, 2023 at the Karuizawa Ice Park in Karuizawa, Japan. To advance to the championship game, Sato won
5-2 over
Yusuke Morozumi (Karuizawa, JPN) in the semifinals of the 2023 Karuizawa International in Karuizawa, Japan, Japan;
Sato finished 3-0 in the 8-team qualifying round. . In their opening game, Sato defeated
Niklas Edin (Karlstad, SWE) 9-6, then won
6-3 against
Yuun Ishimura (Aomori, JPN) and
6-3 against
Kotaro Noguchi (Sendai-shi, JPN) in their final qualifying round match.
With their runner-up finish at the Karuizawa International, Sato take home
19.250 world rankings points along with the $3,670CDN prize. Sato move up 4 spots after posting a net gain of 10.969 points improving upon their best 6 results so far this season, ranking 42nd overall with
93.344 total points on the
World Ranking Standings. Sato ranks 38th overall on the
Year-to-Date rankings with
68.500 points earned so far this season.
