Masaki Iwai (Hokkaido, JPN) won
4-3 over
Shinya Abe (Sapporo, JPN) in the Final of the Japan Curling Championship, held January 29 - February 4, 2018 in Hokkaido, Japan. To advance to the championship game, Iwai won
9-1 over
Yoshiro Shimizu (Karuizawa, JPN) in the semifinals of the 2018 Japan Curling Championship in Hokkaido, Japan;
Iwai finished 7-1 in the 9-team qualifying round. . In their opening game, Iwai defeated
Minori Suzuki (Aomori, JPN) 7-3, then went on to lose
9-4 against
Abe. Iwai responded with a
9-5 win over
Tatsuya Ogawa (Hokkaido, JPN). Iwai won
4-3 against
Shimizu, then won
10-2 against
Kazuhisa Unoura (Osaka, JPN) and
4-1 against
Atsushi Kamigochi (Hokkaido, JPN). Iwai won
9-5 against
Junpei Kanda (Tokyo, JPN), then won
8-2 against
Naomasa Takeda (Sapporo, JPN) in their final qualifying round match.
For winning the Japan Curling Championship Championship title, Iwai earned
9.975 world rankings points, moving up 358 spots the
World Ranking Standings into 289th place overall with
9.975 total points. Iwai ranks 203rd overall on the
Year-to-Date rankings with
9.975 points earned so far this season.
