A group of curlers from the Japanese national team playing in a rural Saskatchewan tournament this weekend say they've been impressed by the level of competition so far. "In Canada [there's] a lot and really high-level [curling], and it's really good.
A lot of curling," said Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, the team's third. He and three other players hailing from Karuizawa, Japan — skip Riku Yanagisawa, second Takeru Yamamoto and lead Satoshi Koizumi — are in Wadena, about 200 kilometres east of Saskatoon, for this weekend's ReMax Blue Chip Realty Tour Bonspiel.
Yamaguchi said there are not as many curling competitions in Japan as there are in Canada, but he was feeling good coming into the 16-team event, because his team had practised three times in the week leading up to it.
As of Saturday, the team was 2-1 in the qualifying rounds. The Japanese team has been in Saskatchewan for about two weeks, but Yamaguchi said Wadena was his personal favourite stop of the trip so far.