THE Philippines slayed world No. 13 and Asia’s top seed South Korea, 12-6, and world No. 45 Kyrgyzstan, 10-2, to make an immediate impact at the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin on Tuesday.
The unranked pair of Filipino-Swedish Marc Pfister and Filipino-American Kathleen Dubberstein were a nightmare of an opponent for Korean Jihoon Seong and Kim Kyeongae at the start of the round-robin games in Group A on Tuesday morning.
Pfister and Dubberstein rode the momentum in the afternoon session and beat Keremet Asanbaeva and Iskhak Abykeev for a rousing 2-0 start in the country’s curling debut in the Asian Winter Games.
Great start for Team PH
“It’s indeed a delightful news and a great start for Team Philippines,” said Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, who will rendezvous with chef de mission Ricky Lim and host a team dinner with the 20-athlete Team Philippines on Thursday.
The Koreans tried to fight back from a slow start but the Filipinos had the go-ahead and scored five more points in the seventh end to seal the victory.
“We are definitely the underdog team here but our athletes are here to compete and they are proud to represent the country,” Curling Pilipinas secretary-general Jarryd Bello said. “We have a chance to secure a medal we beat one of the top teams already.”
Eleven countries are seeing action in the mixed doubles event and were divided into two groups — Philippines, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Chinese-Taipei in Group A and host China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Thailand in Group B.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals on Friday with the final set on Saturday.
The Philippine will take on Qatar at 10 a.m. and China at 6 p.m. to complete the round-robin stage on Wednesday.
Short track speed skater Peter Groseclose and his coach John Henry Krueger are already in Harbin ahead of the competition in men’s 1,500 meters quarterfinal and 500m and 1,000m heats on Friday.
Expected to check in Saturday are figure skaters Cathryn Limketkai and Sofia Frank while Paolo Borromeo, Isabella Gamez and Alexandr Korovin are due on Sunday.
The opening ceremony is set on Friday at the Harbin International Convention Exhibition and Sports Center.
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