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Korea beat China to reach mixed doubles curling final, locks in first medal

Published: 07 Feb. 2025, 16:33

Kim Kyeong-ae competes during the mixed doubles event against Hong Kong at the Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China on Feb. 7. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Korea defeated hosts China on Friday to advance to the mixed doubles final in curling at the Asian Winter Games, securing the country's first medal of the competition.

The duo of Kim Kyeong-ae and Seong Ji-hun held off Han Yu and Wang Zhiyu 8-4 at Harbin Pingfang District Curling Arena in Harbin, avenging a 6-4 loss in their round-robin match Thursday.

In Saturday's final, Korea will meet Japan, who dispatched the Philippines 10-3 in the other semifinal match Friday. It will be the first medal event for Korea in Harbin.

Against China, Korea grabbed a point in the opening end, with Seong putting his team's final stone near the button while pushing a Chinese stone away from the center of the house.

In the second end, China responded with two points, though it could have scored more with its final stone.

Korea picked up three points in the third end to jump out to a 4-2 lead, as Kim executed a nice draw with the final stone to give her team three rocks in the house to China's none.

Korea scored a point in each of the next two ends to open up a 6-2 lead, before China battled back with two points on Han's successful draw in the sixth end to cut the lead to 6-4.

Kim's draw with the final stone of the seventh end gave Korea a crucial point and a 7-4 advantage heading into the final end. Korea then clinched the win with one last point in the eighth end after Han failed to execute a double takeout with her final stone.

Earlier Friday, Korea had beaten Hong Kong 11-4 in a qualification game to reach the semifinals.

The mixed doubles event is making its first Winter Asiad appearance in Harbin. Kim won silver with the women's team at the last Asian Winter Games in 2017 in Sapporo, Japan, before also helping Korea to silver at the Winter Olympics on home ice in PyeongChang a year later.


Both the bronze medal game and the gold medal game will be Saturday.

Yonhap