 One game left to decide Korea's Olympic representatives for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina. By: Cameron Sallaj The field has been narrowed down to two at the 2025 Korean Curling Championships in Uijeongbu, taking place June 19 to 27. With four women's teams ranked inside the top twenty in the world and an Olympic berth up for grabs, the event has been an intense affair with all teams vying to qualify for Italy in February. Through the preliminary stage, two-time defending champions Gyeonggi Province's Gim Eun-ji finished atop the table with a 7-1 record, tied with Chuncheon City Hall's Ha Seung-youn who they defeated head-to-head. Jeonbuk Province's Kang Bo-bae, the reigning world junior champions, ranked third out of the group with a 6-2 record while two-time Olympians Gangneung City Hall's Kim Eun-jung made the cut at 5-3. With a page playoff system in place to decide the champion, Gim and Ha faced off again in the 1 vs. 2 game. It was a good start for Gim, who executed a perfect angle raise in the third end to give her lineup of Kim Min-ji, Kim Su-ji, Seol Ye-eun and Seol Ye-ji a 3-1 edge. From there, however, Chuncheon dominated the rest of the game with Ha, Kim Hye-rin, Yang Tae-i, Kim Su-jin and Park Seo-jin scoring eight unanswered points in the last five ends. This gave them a 9-3 victory and a guaranteed spot in the Olympic Trials final. In the 3 vs. 4 game, youth reigned supreme over experience as Jeonbuk's Kang Bo-bae and her team of Shim Yu-jeong, Kim Min-seo, Kim Ji-soo and Lee Bo-yeong counted two in an extra end to bounce 2018 Olympic and 2022 World silver medalist Kim Eun-jung 6-4. The Gangneung based rink of Kim, Kim Kyeong-ae, Kim Cho-hi, Kim Seon-yeong and Kim Yeong-mi entered the championship ranked number four in the world but lost crucial games to both Ha and Kang which placed them fourth in the round robin. It will be the first time since 2014 that Team Kim do not represent the country at the Olympics, finishing second in 2018 and eighth in 2022. With a tight turnaround, Gim and Kang went head to head in the semifinal. Despite starting without hammer, Kang and her young squad took control of the match early with back-to-back steals in the second and third ends. Needing a big shot to turn things around, Gim Eun-ji executed an angle raise in the fourth to level the score. Gyeonggi then forced Jeonbuk to a single in the fifth before counting two more in the sixth, taking their first lead. A steal by Gim in eight gave them full control of the back-half of the game, leading 5-3 with two ends remaining. A deuce by Kang in nine would not be enough as Gim counted four in the tenth end to lift her team to a 9-5 victory and secure a spot in the national final for a fourth consecutive year. Semifinal - Gyeonggi Province (Gim Eun-ji) vs Jeonbuk Province (Kang Bo-bae): For a second straight year, Chuncheon and Gyeonggi will face off in the Korean championship game, though this time with much more to play for with the Olympics in sight. Ha is looking for her second national title and to make her Olympic debut while Gim looks to win a third straight championship and return to the Games for the first time since 2014. |
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Matt Dunstone (Photo: Curling Canada) and his Winnipeg-based squad begin play at the CO-OP Tour Challenge in Nisku, Alta.
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