SEOUL, 19 March (BelTA - Yonhap) - The host South Korea defeated world
No. 1 Canada at the women's curling world championship on Wednesday.
Skip Gim Eun-ji and her 10th-ranked South Korean crew beat Rachel Homan's Canada 11-7 in their round-robin match at the LGT World Women's Curling Championship at Uijeongbu Indoor Ice Rink in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul.
In the afternoon session, South Korea beat Denmark 7-3 and improved to 7-1 in the round robin, good for second place behind Switzerland (8-0). South Korea had won its first five matches before falling to Switzerland on Tuesday and then returning to winning ways Wednesday.
The 13 teams in the competition will play each other once in the round robin and the top six will qualify for the playoff round. The two best teams will each receive a bye to the semifinals, and the remaining four teams will compete for the last two semifinal berths.
The qualification matches and the semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, followed by the bronze medal contest and the championship final on Sunday.
South Korea is seeking its first gold at the women's curling world championship. It won silver in 2022, and bronze in 2019 and 2024.
South Korea and Canada were tied at 3-3 after five ends, and Gim scored three with the hammer in the sixth end for a 6-3 South Korean lead.
Canada got one point back in the next end, but South Korea scored a deuce to go up 8-4.
Homan's double takeout trimmed the South Korean lead to 8-7, but Gim locked down the victory with three points in the 10th end.
The teams battled at a high level, with South Korea shooting 94 percent and Canada checking in at 90 percent. Gim outplayed Homan, a two-time world champion, with her 94 percent efficiency, 15 percentage points better than the Canadian.
At this world championship, South Korea is also trying to secure 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 spots in Milan, and South Korea is in a good position after collecting 11 points with its bronze medal at last year's world championship.
Kim Min-ji, vice-skip for South Korea, said the key to the win was to stay confident and not feel intimidated by Homan.
The current South Korean team had been 2-8 against Homan's team before Wednesday and had lost three straight matches.
"We didn't have lopsided losses against Homan's teams in the past," Kim said. "We felt we would have a chance to win if we kept things close for a few ends."
Kim, 25, said she was inspired by Homan and another Canadian star, Jennifer Jones, to pick up curling some 15 years ago.
"They've been my role models my whole career," Kim said. "I've done this long enough that I am no longer star-struck when I face Homan. But I could still feel her presence today. She is just a fearless curler."
Against Denmark, South Korea scored four points in the ninth end with Gim's double takeout to break a 3-3 tie, and Denmark conceded the match instead of playing the 10th end.
Skip Gim Eun-ji and her 10th-ranked South Korean crew beat Rachel Homan's Canada 11-7 in their round-robin match at the LGT World Women's Curling Championship at Uijeongbu Indoor Ice Rink in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul.
In the afternoon session, South Korea beat Denmark 7-3 and improved to 7-1 in the round robin, good for second place behind Switzerland (8-0). South Korea had won its first five matches before falling to Switzerland on Tuesday and then returning to winning ways Wednesday.
The 13 teams in the competition will play each other once in the round robin and the top six will qualify for the playoff round. The two best teams will each receive a bye to the semifinals, and the remaining four teams will compete for the last two semifinal berths.
The qualification matches and the semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, followed by the bronze medal contest and the championship final on Sunday.
South Korea is seeking its first gold at the women's curling world championship. It won silver in 2022, and bronze in 2019 and 2024.
South Korea and Canada were tied at 3-3 after five ends, and Gim scored three with the hammer in the sixth end for a 6-3 South Korean lead.
Canada got one point back in the next end, but South Korea scored a deuce to go up 8-4.
Homan's double takeout trimmed the South Korean lead to 8-7, but Gim locked down the victory with three points in the 10th end.
The teams battled at a high level, with South Korea shooting 94 percent and Canada checking in at 90 percent. Gim outplayed Homan, a two-time world champion, with her 94 percent efficiency, 15 percentage points better than the Canadian.
At this world championship, South Korea is also trying to secure 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 spots in Milan, and South Korea is in a good position after collecting 11 points with its bronze medal at last year's world championship.
Kim Min-ji, vice-skip for South Korea, said the key to the win was to stay confident and not feel intimidated by Homan.
The current South Korean team had been 2-8 against Homan's team before Wednesday and had lost three straight matches.
"We didn't have lopsided losses against Homan's teams in the past," Kim said. "We felt we would have a chance to win if we kept things close for a few ends."
Kim, 25, said she was inspired by Homan and another Canadian star, Jennifer Jones, to pick up curling some 15 years ago.
"They've been my role models my whole career," Kim said. "I've done this long enough that I am no longer star-struck when I face Homan. But I could still feel her presence today. She is just a fearless curler."
Against Denmark, South Korea scored four points in the ninth end with Gim's double takeout to break a 3-3 tie, and Denmark conceded the match instead of playing the 10th end.
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