10 December 2025
Japan men claim last Olympic Qualification play-off spot to close round robin
With the men’s round-robin now complete, table-topping China will face second-placed United States in the first men’s play-off game on Wednesday evening. The winner will qualify directly for the Olympic Winter Games, while Japan will face the loser of that game in the second play-off for the last spot.
This play-off picture emerged after Japan beat table-toppers China by 9-6 while United States were 7-3 winners over Netherlands in Wednesday’s seventh and final men’s round-robin session.
In the game between China and Japan, the score was tied at 2-2 in the fourth end when Japan’s fourth player Yanagisawa Riku played a double take-out across the house to score four points and give his team a 6-2 lead. Japan stayed ahead after this and went on to win by 9-6 when China’s Xu Xiaoming could not build anything in the tenth end.
Japan skip Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi said, “this game was just about perfect for us, we performed very well”.
Looking forward, he added, “now we need energy for tomorrow’s game.”
United States faced Netherlands in this session. In the seventh end, the Americans led by 4-2 when United States skip Daniel Casper played a precise takeout to score three more points and move his team’s lead onto 7-2. The Americans went on to win by 7-3, to set up their play-off game against China.
Afterwards, skip Casper said, “we’ve been playing well the last couple of game – dialling in on draw-weight.”
He added, “we’re really trying not to think about it (the Olympics) and we’re going to put everything we’ve got into tonight’s game.”
Elsewhere, in the final session, Philippines faced Korea, still with a chance of making the play-offs.
The game was turned upside down in the seventh end when Korea played a risky double takeout, resulting a big score of five, to take a 10-4 lead. Philippines conceded in the next end with a draw to an empty house, 10-5.
New Zealand faced Poland in this session and with neither of them capable of reaching the play-offs, pride was at stake. In the tenth, New Zealand held a 9-8 lead when their skip Anton Hood played a draw for one to win the game by 10-8.
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