| Skip Kim Chang-min of South Korea shakes hands with team members in celebration after defeating Great Britain 11-5 in the round-robin session of the men's curling at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in Gangneung, Saturday. / Yonhap |
By Yi Whan-woo
The South Korean men's curling team captured its first victory at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Saturday, defeating Great Britain 11-5 in a round-robin session.
After suffering a four-game losing streak, South Korea is still at the bottom of the 10-team table, and will need to win all of its remaining matches to advance to the semifinals.
Only the top four countries will advance to the semifinals following the preliminary round.
But victory at the Gangneung Curling Center was certainly meaningful as it raised hopes for the next round, according to skip Kim Chang-min.
"This is what we are. We were not able to show our style in the past four matches," he said.
The four-member team including third Seong Se-hyeon, second Oh Eun-su and Lee Ki-bok conceded a 2-0 lead after the first end to Great Britain's Kyle Smith (skip), Thomas Muirhead (third), Kyle Waddell (second) and Cameron Smith (first).
The South Koreans then collected two points in the second and one in the third. The British gained a point in the third and the fourth ends for a 3-3 tie.
South Korea led again with two points each in the next two ends, before Great Britain managed to get two points in the seventh.
The South Koreans further extended the lead by scoring three points and one point in the eighth and ninth lead for the final score.
Coach Lim Myung-sup said he "has believed in his players despite the previous defeats."
"They've learned from the losses and that's how they were able to bounce back today," he said. "Their efforts will pay off if they concentrate on every single cast, end and match."
South Korea's four remaining matches are against Denmark (Feb. 18), Italy (Feb. 19), Switzerland (Feb. 20) and Japan (Feb. 21).
Current leader Sweden in on a five-match winning streak. Canada has a 4-1 record in second place, followed by Switzerland (3-2) and Japan (2-2).