 Kitami's Takumi Maeda (Photo: Hokkaido Curling Tour) wins first tour event of the season as trio. By: Cameron Sallaj Two-time Japanese silver medalist Takumi Maeda is down a player this season following the departure of Asei Nakahara from the rink. Despite playing as three this weekend in Wakkanai, that did not stop his team of Hiroki Maeda and Uryu Kamikawa as they went on to claim the first title of the 2025-26 season. Through the round robin, Maeda's trio, representing Loco Drago, finished with a 3-1 record, securing the second playoff spot out of Pool A. This set them up for a rematch of the national semifinal against Consadole's Shinya Abe, a game they stole the win in 5-4. Down 3-1 coming home, Maeda capitalized on a missed guard by Consadole fourth Tetsuro Shimizu to lie three. This allowed him to play an angle slash on his final stone to count three and win the game 4-3, sending the rink to the final where they faced Kohsuke Hirata. Semifinal - Consadole (Shinya Abe) vs Loco Drago (Takumi Maeda): The final saw less fanfare with Maeda taking the lead in the third end and never seizing control. Leading 3-1 in the sixth, the team stole two in the seventh end to secure the victory in Wakkanai. Team Maeda currently ranks 30th in the world after an impressive 2024-25 season, reaching three finals and eight playoffs, most notably a silver medal performance at the 2025 Japan Curling Championships. While they are not one of the two teams competing in the Olympic Trials in September, they will travel to Canada and are currently scheduled to play in the KW Fall Classic, Red Deer Curling Classic and the RBC Dominion Securities Western Showdown. Team Takumi Maeda (Kitami, JPN) finished 3-1 through the qualifying round of the Wakkanai Midori Challenge Cup. In the opening draw, the team opened with a 7-5 victory over Kouki Ogiwara (Sapporo, JPN). They then won 9-3 over Yuta Fuse (Wakkanai, JPN) and defeated P. N. Raju (Hyderabad, IND) 8-1. They lost their final qualifying game 6-4 to Riku Yanagisawa (Karuizawa, JPN) but bounced back in the playoff round. |
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Kitami's Satsuki Fujisawa (Photo: Hokkaido Curling Tour) was clinical in 2025-26 tour debut.
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