Team Kim breeze past ROC as Olympic curling continues

Team Korea celebrate after beating the Russian Olympic Committee 9-5 in a round robin curling game at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing on Saturday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Team Kim comfortably defeated the curling team representing the Russian Olympic Committee on Saturday in their third game of the round robin tournament at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games.

Korea took an early 1-0 lead in the first end at the National Aquatics Centre in Beijing, which Russia immediately canceled out with two points in the second end. Unfazed, Team Kim added two of their own in the third end and held on to the lead for the remainder of the match.

A flurry of points in the middle of the game left Korea with a comfortable 9-5 win, with the 10th end cut short when Russia ran out of stones in play to overcome the deficit.

Korea now have two wins and one loss in the early stage of the round robin tournament, having lost their opening match to Canada on Thursday and defeated Great Britain on Friday.

In the women's curling tournament, each team plays a total of nine games in the round robin tournament, with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals. Games are played daily, although the draw may leave some teams with multiple games on one day and none on another.

Team Kim return to the ice at 3:05 p.m. on Sunday when they take on China.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]