CurlingZone: Kim defeats Gim in all Korean battle at Players'

Gangneung's Team Kim Eun-jung (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) emerged victorious in an all-Korean game versus rivals Uijeongbu's Gim Eun-ji in Draw 8 of the Players' Championship.

By: Cameron Sallaj

The Gangneung-based team of Kim Eun-jung, Kim Kyeong-ae, Kim Cho-hi, Kim Seon-yeong and Kim Yeong-mi came up short in the national final back in June, falling short to the Gim Eun-ji rink of Uijeongbu. This season, they've had to sit by as Gim went on to represent Korea on the international stage, capturing gold at the Pan Continental Curling Championships and bronze at the World Championships.

At the final Slam of the year, however, the two rinks met in Thursday mornings round robin game, providing an opportunity for the 2018 Olympic and 2022 world silver medalists to get some revenge.

Things started well for Team Kim as in the first end, skip Eun-jung was left with the entire rings to score two which she made no mistake, taking an early 2-0 advantage. They then forced Gim to just one in the second.

In the third, the Gangneung squad were in some trouble until Gyeonggi's Gim wrecked on a guard on her final stone, exposing a runback which Kim nailed to nabbed two more points and give her team a comfortable 4-1 lead.

Team Kim continued to apply pressure in the fourth end which led to a steal of three points. After they stole another one in the fifth, it was early handshakes and a dominant 8-1 win in their third game of the 2024 Players' Championship.

Both Teams Kim and Gim are now 2-1 in Toronto each with two round robin games left. Kim still needs to face Manitoba's Kerri Einarson and Kaitlyn Lawes while Gim has both the Swiss' Silvana Tirinzoni and Xenia Schwaller left to play.

None of the games in Draw 8 went the full distance with three games being conceded after five ends. Scotland's Team Ross Whyte improved to 2-1 with a quick 7-2 win over Manitoba's Matt Dunstone (1-2) while Calgary's Team Brendan Bottcher earned their first win 8-3 over Scotland's Bruce Mouat (2-1).

The other women's game saw Team Rachel Homan pick up their third victory of the tournament, defeating Sweden's Isabella Wrana 7-4. Wrana, who is the defending champion of this event, is now 2-1.

The Princess Auto Players' Championship continues with the first televised draw on Sportsnet at 11:30 AM Eastern Time.

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