HARBIN, CHINA—World’s No. 51 Philippine men’s curling team reached the medal round here at the ninth Asian Winter Games.
Skipper Filipino-Swiss Marc Pfister, brother Enrico Pfister, lead Alan Frei and vice skipper Christian Haller broke a four-all tie and claimed the last six points to guide the Filipinos to an important 10-4 win over No. 10 Japan on Thursday in the qualification round at the Pingfang Curling Arena.
The Filipinos, cheered by Curling Pilipinas President Benjo Delarmente, who also served as an alternate, advanced to the evening semifinal stage and were battling No. 17 China as of press time, hoping to move to the gold medal round.
The Philippines made it to the qualification round after tallying in three wins against only a loss – which was the 1-6 setback to South Korea in the round robin Group A last Sunday.
In the other qualification phase, No. 36 Hong Kong blasted No. 35 Kazakhstan, 8-5, to meet No. 7 South Korea in the semifinal stage that was also being held as of press time.
The battle for bronze and the final round is set on Friday at 9am.
This is the second time that the Filipinos will attempt for a first ever medal in the Asian Winter Games after the Philippines’ curling team mixed doubles team of Marc Pfister and Kathleen Dubberstein came up short for a bronze last Saturday when they narrowly lost to China, 5-6.
