Sayaka Yoshimura

Sayaka Yoshimura (吉村 紗也香) is a Japanese curler from Sapporo, Hokkaido.

Yoshimura made her international debut for Japan at the 2006 Pacific Junior Curling Championships, playing lead for Team Japan, skipped by Megumi Kobayashi.

They would win a silver medal after losing in the final to China's Wang Bingyu.

In 2009, her junior team competed in the qualification round for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but lost in the first round to Team Nagano.

Also during the 2010–11 season, she skipped Japan at the 2011 Winter Universiade.

There, she led her team to a 6–3 round robin record, qualifying for the playoffs.

They then lost both of their playoff games, settling for fourth.

Yoshimura did not return to the Pacific Juniors until 2011, when she skipped Japan to a gold medal at the 2011 Pacific Junior Curling Championships, qualifying her nation for the 2011 World Junior Curling Championships.

There, she led Japan to a 3–6 record, finishing in eighth place.

Yoshimura once again led Japan to a gold medal at the 2012 Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships.

After a 6–2 record in the round robin, her team beat South Korea's Kim Eun-jung 3–2 in the championship final.

This win qualified her team for the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships where they lost in a tiebreaker to Sweden's Sara McManus.

She won another gold medal for Japan at the 2013 Pacific-Asia Junior Curling Championships, losing only one game en route to claiming the title.

She would then finally make the podium at the World Juniors, leading Japan to bronze medal at the 2013 World Junior Curling Championships.

After the round robin, her team of Rina Ida, Risa Ujihara and Mao Ishigaki were in second place with a 6–3 record.

However, they lost both the 1 vs. 2 page playoff and semifinal games before beating Czech Republic's Zuzana Hájková in the bronze medal game.

Also that season, they reached the semifinals of the Karuizawa International.

One year out of juniors, her team stuck together and played at the 2013 Winter Universiade.

There, they started with wins in three of their first four games before losing their last five games, finishing in a disappointing seventh place.

Team Yoshimura also competed in the national trials for the 2013 Olympic Qualification Event for the chance to represent Japan at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

They finished the event with a 2–4 record, however, were able to beat the eventual champions Hokkaido Bank (Ayumi Ogasawara) in their opening match.

On tour, they finished runner-up at the 2013 Medicine Hat Charity Classic to Russia's Anna Sidorova rink.

After the season, Yoshimura joined the Ogasawara Hokkaido Bank rink at third, who were the top ranked team in Japan at the time.

The team also included Kaho Onodera at second, Anna Ohmiya at lead and Yumie Funayama as the alternate.

On the World Curling Tour, they would win two events, the Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic and the Hub International Crown of Curling.

They represented Japan at the 2014 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships, Yoshimura's first appearance at the championship.

After a 5–3 round robin record, they lost to China's Liu Sijia in the semifinal.

They were, however, able to pick up the bronze medal against New Zealand's Chelsea Farley.

She is the skip of the FORTIUS curling team, which won the Japan Curling Championships in both 2015 and 2021.

At the international level, she has represented Japan twice at the World Women's Curling Championship and two Pacific-Asia Curling Championships in and, winning the gold medal in 2021.

This would ordinarily not be enough to qualify Japan for the World Championships, but because Sapporo was hosting the event, Japan qualified for the 2015 World Women's Curling Championship.

The team then competed in their national championship to determine who would represent Japan at the World Championship.

After the round robin, they placed second with a 7–1 record, but defeated Loco Solare (Mari Motohashi) to qualify for the final where they once again played Motohashi.

The team were successful in securing the national title by defeating Loco Solare 8–5 and qualifying for the World Championship, Yoshimura's first Worlds.

There, they placed just outside of the tiebreakers with a 6–5 record, ending in sixth place.

Team Ogasawara won one tour event during the 2015–16 season, the Karuizawa International, where they lost only one game en route to claiming the title.

They also had semifinal appearances at the Colonial Square Ladies Classic, the Crestwood Ladies Fall Classic and the City of Perth Ladies International.

The team played in the 2016 Continental Cup of Curling where they were part of the losing Team World squad.

In February 2016, they competed in the Japan Curling Championships, attempting to defend their title.

They had a strong round robin, going an undefeated 8–0, but then lost both of their playoff games to Loco Solare (Satsuki Fujisawa) and Fujikyu (Tori Koana), settling for third.