 Gangwon Province's Park Jong-duk (Photo: Steve Seixeiro/WCF) will try to make it a second straight national title this week in Uijeongbu. By: Cameron Sallaj With three different champions over the past three years at the Korean Men's Championship, the field is wide open for anyone to take the title. Gangwon Province, Gyeongbuk Sports Council and Seoul City Hall remain the top three teams in the country, however, the field is not as cut and dry as the women's event appears to be. The Gangwon Province team led by Park Jong-duk won the 2023 national title as a second-year team. During the 2023-24 season, Park and teammates Jeong Yeong-seok, Oh Seung-hoon, Lee Ki-bok and Seong Ji-hoon earned the silver medal at the 2023 Pan Continental Curling Championships. This did not translate at the World Championship, however, as they finished next to last place with a 2-10 record. On tour, Gangwon Province reached just one final in ten events played. Despite this, consistent quarterfinal finishes boosted them to twenty-seventh in the world and number one in Korea, making them pre-tournament favorites heading into Uijeongbu. Further down the world rankings in fifty-third place is Seoul City Hall, the 2022 national champions led by Jeong Byeong-jin. In their winning year, Jeong, Lee Jeong-jae, Kim Min-woo and Kim Tae-hwan also won silver at the Pan Continental but finished in last at the World Championship (1-11). A switch at the lead position sees the team add Gyeonggido's Kim Jeong-min in attempts to recapture the national crown. Gyeongbuk Sports Council are the most successful men's team on the world stage in the past three years as in 2022, the team of Kim Soo-hyuk, Kim Chang-min, Seong Se-hyeon, Kim Hak-kyun and Jeon Jae-ik just missed the playoffs with a 6-6 record. At the past two Korean Championships, however, the team has struggled, losing the final in 2022 and earning bronze in 2023. Having also added a new player in Yoo Min-hyeon, Gyeongbuk hopes this revitalized lineup will pay off and secure them a sixth Korean title. A fourth team and dark horse entry is Uiseong-gun Office. Led by Lee Jae-beom, this squad recently represented Korea at the World Juniors in 2022 and are looking to win their first men's championship. The 2024 Korean Curling Championships run June 9-17 at the Uijeongbu Curling Stadium in Uijeongbu. All games from the event will be broadcast on the Curling1spoon YouTube channel. |
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World number three ranked Gyeonggi Province's Gim Eun-ji (Photo: Curling1spoon) defend their national title in a thrilling extra end final Monday in Uijeongbu.
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