South Korea Women’s Curling Rallies Past China by 1, Moves Into Tie for Second

South Korea’s women’s curling team pulled off a late comeback to beat China by one point in Olympic round-robin play, moving into a tie for second place.

Gyeonggi Province Office, led by skip Kim Eun-ji with third Kim Min-ji, second Kim Su-ji, lead Seol Ye-eun and fifth Seol Ye-ji, defeated China 10-9 in its sixth round-robin game at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Tuesday (Korea time).

After blanking the first two ends to keep last-stone advantage, South Korea scored three in the third. China answered with two in the fourth, but South Korea broke it open with four in the fifth to lead 7-2.

China closed the gap with three in the fifth and a steal of one in the sixth. In the eighth, Kim Su-ji knocked three Chinese stones out of the house, and Kim Min-ji followed with a double takeout to escape trouble. South Korea took one in the eighth, but gave up three in the ninth to fall behind by one entering the 10th.

In the final end, Kim Min-ji cleared Chinese stones late, and Kim Eun-ji’s last shot settled in the center of the house for two points and the win.

South Korea is scheduled to play world No. 1 Switzerland at 10:05 p.m. Tuesday in its seventh round-robin game.

In women’s curling, 10 teams play a round-robin, with the top four advancing to the semifinals. South Korea is tied for second with Switzerland and the United States, behind Sweden at 6-0.