Korea beats Japan in women's curling

Korea women's curling team celebrates their win against Japan at the Winter Olympics at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, 260 kilometers northeast of Milan, Sunday. Yonhap

MILAN — Korea defeated Japan for its third victory of the women's curling tournament at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Sunday.

Skip Gim Eun-ji's Korea beat Sayaka Yoshimura's Japan 7-5 at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, 260 kilometers northeast of Milan. Korea blew an early 2-0 lead before scoring three big points in the eighth end.

Korea, now with a 3-2 record, will next play China on Monday in this 10-team competition. After nine round-robin matches, the top four nations will progress to the semifinals set for Thursday.

Korea opened the scoring with a point in the second end and then added another point in the third end.

Japan tied things up with two points in the fourth end, and the teams traded a point apiece over the next two ends.

Holding the hammer in the eighth end, Gim executed a takeout that gave her side three points.

Japan battled back with two points in the ninth end to make it a 6-5 contest, but Korea took advantage of its hammer in the 10th end by picking up a point to round out the scoring.