China wins first medal at Asian Winter Games in curling mixed doubles

China clinched its first medal at the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, after Han Yu and Wang Zhiyu defeated Marc Pfister and Kathleen Dubberstein of the Philippines 6-5 in the curling mixed doubles bronze medal match on Saturday.

The Chinese pair won all of their five games in the round robin, but lost to South Korean opponents 8-4 in the semifinals. The Philippines lost to Japan 10-4 in the other battle for the final.

Pfister and Dubberstein scored first, one point in the first end and three in the second, to lead 4-0. Han and Wang cut one back in the third and then added another two in the fourth, trailing by only one point after the first half.

The Chinese pair tied the score 4-4 in the fifth end before rising to lead 6-4 in after the sixth and seventh ends. Though Pfister and Dubberstein scored one point in the final end, they couldn't reverse the situation.

In the other game on the day, Tori Koana and Go Aoki of Japan defeated Kim Kyeong-ae and Seong Ji-hoon of South Korea 7-6 to win the gold.