Korean curling teams aim to finish on high note in PyeongChang

The Korea national women’s curling team skip Kim Eun-jeong cheers on teammates during training at the National Training Center ice rink in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, Jan. 4. / Yonhap

By Baek Byung-yeul

Curling had been an unknown winter sport to Koreans until recently. However, the unique team sport generated many local fans at the 2014 Winter Olympics after the national women’s team competed for the first time.

The sport has a simple rule as the object is to get more stones near the scoring area called the “button.” At the upcoming PyeongChang Olympics, Korea is competing in the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles events, the latter being contested for the first time.

Among the three squads, the women’s curling team has come closest to an Olympic medal. At the Sochi Games, Korea’s Gyeonggi Province curling club finished eighth among 10 teams; this time the North Gyeongsang Province team represent Korea.

The North Gyeongsang Province team is dubbed “Team Kim” as all five members of the team have the same surname.

Team Kim claimed a silver medal in women’s curling at the Sapporo Asian Winter Games last year. The team also made the semi-finals at the recently finished Meridian Canadian Open.

What is more encouraging for the Korean team is they defeated Rachel Homan’s Ottawa curling team 7-4 in the quarterfinals. The Ottawa team, which will represent Canada at PyeongChang, is one of the world’s best curling teams as they went undefeated en route to winning the 2017 World Women’s Curling Championship. Though Korea took a 6-4 loss to Chelsea Carey’s Alberta team in the semifinals, Team Kim proved to be strong enough to fight for the Olympic medal next month.

Compared to the women’s team, the men’s curling team is relatively less well-known but the team’s head coach Lim Myung-sup said it has enough potential to compete with world-class participants in PyeongChang.

“Our team players are young, but of great capacity,” Lim told reporters at a media day held at the Jincheon National Training Center, Jan. 10. “They have little experience at world-class tournaments. My goal is to help them demonstrate their full capabilities at PyeongChang. It will bring the best results.”

Korea also competes in the mixed doubles curling event. While a curling team is comprised of four members including a lead, second, third and skip, there are only two players in mixed doubles.

The mixed doubles team is comprised of Jang Hye-ji and Lee Ki-jeong. Lee’s twin brother Ki-bok is a member of the men’s curling team.

The two played for the men’s team and won the 2017 World Junior Curling Championships, but Ki-jeong decided to compete in the mixed doubles for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

“As there are only two players (in mixed doubles), I thought I would have more leeway,” Ki-jeong told Yonhap News Agency, Monday. “And since it is the first time for the Olympics to adopt mixed doubles, I believed the chances of winning a medal are also higher.”