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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider PH stuns South Korea, captures historic men's curling gold at Asian Winter Games

PH stuns South Korea, captures historic men's curling gold at Asian Winter Games

Published Feb 14, 2025 03:26 am

At A Glance

  • The Philippines stunned South Korea, 5-3, to secure a historic gold medal in men's curling at the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China on Friday, Feb. 14.

In the freezing temperatures of Harbin, China, a tropical country in Team Philippines waxed hot by capturing the gold medal in the men’s curling event at the 9th Asian Winter Games on Friday, Feb. 14.

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Philippines' Alan Frei, right, and Christian Haller compete against South Korea during the finals of men's curling at the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP)

The Filipinos defied all odds, displaying intense composure against their fancied rivals before stunning South Korea, 5-3, for the historic achievement at the Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena.

The unprecedented feat marked the country’s first-ever podium finish in the continental showpiece, which began nearly four decades ago.

Coached by Jessica Pfister, the team of Alan Frei, Enrico Pfister, Christian Haller, Marc Pfister, and Benjo Delarmente delivered when it mattered most by taking a 3-1 lead after the fourth end.

The South Koreans, however, appeared unfazed, scoring one point each on the fifth and sixth end to tie the knot at 3-all, before the Filipinos made a final push in the seventh and end to secure the victory against Lee Jaebeom, Kim Hyojun, Kim Eunbin, Pyo Jeongmin, and Kim Jinhun.

The path to the summit was never easy for the Nationals, having lost to the same finals rivals in the Group A preliminaries, 6-1.

But they soldiered on, picking up their game and producing impressive victories against Kazakhstan, 4-1, Kyrgyzstan, 12-2, and Chinese Taipei, 11-3, to advance to the next stage.

They shocked another fancied rival in Japan, 10-4, to barge into the semifinals, and went on to surprise host China, 7-6, for a spot in the finals.

Then, they met their destiny.

The victory came after days of unsuccessful campaigns for other PH team members that include figure skaters Cathryn Limketkai, Sofia Frank and Paolo Borromeo.

On Thursday, Limketkai came in ninth in the women’s free skate finals after tallying 91.91 points -- a far cry from the 147.56-point production of eventual gold medalist Kim Chaeoyon of South Korea. Frank, meanwhile, finished 12th with 76.50.

Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto (136.87) and Hana Yoshida (136.44) bagged silver and bronze, respectively.

Borromeo, for his part, finished 10th in the men’s side with 117.85 as South Korea’s Cha Junhwan (187.60), Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov (169.26) and Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama (168.95) captured the gold, silver and bronze, respectively.

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