S. Korea beats Japan to begin women's curling world championship at home

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, March 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea defeated Japan in extra ends to open the women's curling world championship at home Saturday.

Led by skip Gim Eun-ji, world No. 10 South Korea held off Sayaka Yoshimura's eighth-ranked Japan 10-8 in the first round-robin match of the LGT World Women's Curling Championship at Uijeongbu Indoor Ice Rink in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul.

The teams were all knotted up at 8-8, before Gim's takeout scored the two clinching points for the home side.

The 13 teams in the competition will face each other once in the round robin, and the top six will qualify for the playoff round -- with the two best teams each receiving a bye to the semifinals and the remaining four competing for the last two semifinal berths.

At the world championship, South Korea will try to lock down a spot at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. The top seven teams in points earned from the 2024 and 2025 world championships will book their tickets to Milan, and South Korea is in a good position after earning 11 points with its bronze medal at the 2024 worlds.

Against Japan, South Korea blanked the first end to retain the hammer and then grabbed four points in the second end.

However, Japan responded with three points in the third end, taking advantage of a South Korean miscue.

Back and forth they went, as South Korea went up 7-5 after the seventh end and Japan pulled into a tie with two points in the eighth end.

South Korea grabbed a point in the ninth end, and Japan could only manage one point in the 10th end to send the match into the extra session.

It set the stage for Gim's late heroics for the home team's first win of the competition.

South Korea will next take on Norway on Sunday.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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