MANILA, Philippines, February 14 ------ For the first time in Asian Winter Games history, Team Philippines is returning home with a medal. The Philippines assured itself of at least a silver after its men’s curling team advanced to the final following a 7-6 win over host China in their semifinal clash in at the Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena.
Composed of Marc Pfister, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister, Alan Frei, and Benjo Delarmento, the Filipinos broke a 6-6 deadlock by scoring a point in the eighth and final end to deny the Chinese a title repeat. The Philippines will dispute for the gold on Friday, February 14, against South Korea, which claimed a 13-2 win over Hong Kong.
Down 1-4 through the first four ends, the Philippines surged ahead by tallying 4 points in the fifth and 1 point in the sixth before China pulled even with 2 points in the seventh, setting up the nerve-racking ending. Marc Pfister earned some sort of redemption after he and Kathleen Dubberstein settled for fourth place in the mixed doubles category on February 8. Also falling short of a medal were figure skaters Isabella Gamez and naturalized Aleksandr Korovin, who placed fourth in the mixed pair class on Wednesday, February 12.
Gamez and Korovin landed fourth in both the short program and free skate and totaled 155.62 points to finish behind Uzbekistan (176.43), North Korea (168.88), and Japan (168.35). Meanwhile, skaters Cathryn Limketkai and Sofia Frank ended up at 9th and 11th places, respectively, in the women’s single competition on Thursday. Limketkai garnered 137.19 points, while Frank amassed 120.05 points in the event where South Korea’s Kim Chaeyeon (219.44) struck gold followed by Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto (211.90) and Hana Yoshida (205.20). Over in women’s team curling, the Philippine crew of K. Dubberstein, Anne Bonache, Leilani Dubberstein, Sheila Mariano, and Jennifer de la Fuente wound up at fifth, coming up just a victory short of a spot in the semifinals. The Filipinas compiled an even 4-4 record.
Source: rappler.com
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