Chinese mixed doubles curlers fail to qualify for 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics

Chinese mixed doubles curling pair Yu Sen and Ye Zixuan lost to the Republic of Korea's Jeong Yeong-seok and Kim Seon-yeong 7-3 in a playoff contest on Thursday in Kelowna, Canada, failing to qualify for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Playing with the red stones, China trailed 4-2 after the first three ends. Yu and Ye were unable to slide their final delivery into the house, and then watched helplessly as their opponents stole another point to increase the advantage to 5-2 at the conclusion of the fourth end.

Following an intermission, the Chinese duo switched to power play tactics on offense in the fifth end, but scored only one point. Meanwhile, the ROK maintained solid defense and exploited chaos in the house in the seventh end to steal one point, padding the lead to 7-3.

After Jeong and Kim completed an explosive double takeout in the eighth end, Yu and Ye had no choice but to concede the contest and accept a painful loss that ended their Olympic dream.

In the other first-stage playoff meeting, the Czech Republic defeated Australia 6-5 to clinch qualification for the Games. The ROK then beat the Aussies 10-5 in the final playoff contest to lock up the final spot in Milano Cortina.