Two of the four play-off teams are set on both the Men’s and Women’s side at the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Japan men, who currently are undefeated with five wins, and Korea men, have guaranteed their spot in Friday’s (12 November) semi-finals.
In the Women’s competition, Japan and Korea have both secured their spots as well. The Japanese team has five wins and one loss, while Korea has four wins and one loss.
In Wednesday’s round-robin action, Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei men kept their play-off hopes alive with victories over Saudi Arabia and Qatar, respectively. Both teams now have three wins and two losses.
Hong Kong men won a critical game in the evening against Qatar, 8-5, and now face Kazakhstan on Thursday afternoon to finish round-robin play. Hong Kong, skipped by Jason Chang, has a record of two wins and three losses.
The top four teams will advance to the semi-finals where the first-ranked team will play the fourth-ranked team, and the second will play the third. The gold medallist will earn their Member Association a spot in the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship 2022 in Las Vegas, United States.
Japanese women finish round-robin with five wins
Japan’s team skipped by Sayaka Yoshimura finished their double round-robin schedule with five wins and one loss – to Korea. This means they are the first team to complete the round robin and will advance to the semi-finals on Friday.
“At this Pacific-Asia Championship, the number of teams competing is only four but in spite of the smaller competition, we want to win it because it is the last Pacific-Asia Curling Championships,” said Yoshimura. “And we want to win the final one!”
Joining Japan in the play-offs will be Korea’s Eun-Jung Kim, who has one round-robin game remaining to play, against Hong Kong, on Thursday evening.
The gold and silver medallists from the Women’s side will earn their spot in the BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship 2022 in Prince George, Canada.
Session 10
Men: Saudi Arabia 6-12 Kazakhstan; Chinese Taipei 11-4 Qatar; Hong Kong 5-11 Korea
Session 11
Women: Hong Kong 5-11 Japan; Korea 9-4 Kazakhstan
Session 12
Men: Saudi Arabia 0-12 Japan; Kazakhstan 1-9 Korea; Qatar 5-8 Hong Kong
Women: Kazakhstan 2-7 Japan
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