Ikue Kitazawa (Nagano, JPN) won
7-6 over
Eunjung Kim (Gangneung, KOR) 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, Kitazawa won
7-2 over
Kaitlyn Lawes (Winnipeg , MB) in the semifinals of the 2023 Karuizawa International in Karuizawa, Japan, Japan;
Kitazawa finished 2-1 in the 8-team qualifying round. . In their opening game, Kitazawa lost
8-2 to
Kim, then responded with a
9-6 win over
Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg, MB). Kitazawa won
10-7 against
Honoka Sasaki (Kitami, JPN) in their final qualifying round match.
For winning the Karuizawa International Championship title, Kitazawa earned
33.750 world rankings points along with the $7,339CDN first prize cheque. Kitazawa move up 4 spots after posting a net gain of 15.062 points improving upon their best 6 results so far this season, ranking 18th overall with
170.937 total points on the
World Ranking Standings. Kitazawa ranks 17th overall on the
Year-to-Date rankings with
114.875 points earned so far this season.
