Japan and hosts, China, moved to the top of the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships 2019 women’s standings, following second wins in Shenzhen, China.
During this session, Japan beat Chinese Taipei, 14-5, and the home team defeated Qatar, 19-1.
China opened their scoring account with a seven point first-end. This wasn’t the only seven point end during the session either. Korea completed their game, after six ends, with a seven pointer against Kazakhstan. They won 12-2.
This was Korea’s first win of the competition so far. Also, recording their first win was Hong Kong. They edged past their opponents, Australia, 9-8, in the only game that went to the full ten ends.
Early pressure
Japan were in command of their game throughout, tallying two three-point ends before the break – the first and third ends. Chinese Taipei were able to minimise the damage before, that fifth end break with two point scores in each of the second and fifth ends. At that stage the score was 7-4 in Japan’s favour.
However, after the break, Japan put the victory beyond doubt, largely through their five point eighth-end. Chinese Taipei conceded at that point, 14-5.
Similarly, China were in control from the start with their seven point end. Qatar did secure a point in the second end, before they chose to concede after steals in the fourth, fifth and sixth ends. The game ended 19-1.
After the game, China’s third player Lijun Zhang said, “We feel a little bit of extra pressure playing at home and we’re trying our best to play well and apply what we learned during training to the games.”
Australia don’t give up
In their game against Kazakhstan, Korea’s skip, Un Chi Gim, had the chance to hit with her last stone for a coveted eight-point end. However, the opposition stone needing cleared also took with it one of Japan’s counting stones. The team settled for seven points, but, this was enough for Kazakhstan to end the game, at 12-2.
Finally, in the most closely fought game of the session Hong Kong and Australia went head-to-head. After three ends, Hong Kong had created a substantial, 7-1 lead. However, Australia never gave in and after stealing points in the eighth, ninth and tenth ends, they almost mounted an impressive comeback. In the end, they were just shy of their opponents with the game ending 9-8.
Hong Kong’s skip, Ling-Yue Hung commented on a difficult start so far to the competition. She said, “It’s nice to get our first win, but we know our schedule is very difficult. [The] first game playing China and then Australia. Then, our next two games are going to be difficult as well, against Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei.”
Results session two: Chinese Taipei 5-14 Japan; Hong Kong 9-8 Australia; Qatar 1-19 China; Korea 12-2 Kazakhstan
Standings after session two
China 2-0
Japan 2-0
Australia 1-1
Hong Kong 1-1
Korea 1-1
Chinese Taipei 1-1
Kazakhstan 0-2
Qatar 0-2
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