Jiang Yilun's rink crushed by Japan to finish third in Group A

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Despite a disappointing result for Jiang Yilun's team in their last game on Saturday, they ended up finishing third in Group A of the Curling World Cup Grand Final. The young ladies did their best in the tournament but also received a reminder that they have a lot of work to do in the run-up to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

China began the fourth day of competition in Group A with an upset victory over Canada's Jennifer Jones' rink but was later brought back to earth in a big loss to Japan. Jiang's team completed their first appearance in the Grand Final with three wins and three losses.

"We did not play bad but made some mistakes during the match against Japan, and they used their opportunities to win. That's what we need to learn from them," said vice captain Zhang Lijun.

In the 2018-19 Season, China's national curling association changed its selection mechanism, choosing the best teams from competitions. Mei Jie's team beat Jiang's rink in last December's national curling championships to represent China at this year's women's curling championship, while Jiang's team later got revenge to emerge as the host nation's top team ahead of the Grand Final.

"It was a precious chance to play with the top teams from the world. As a new team, we really enjoyed ourselves because we showed what we can do during the event," said team captain Jiang Yilun.

During the tournament, some of China's problems were exposed such as their inexperience and lack of cohesiveness.

"I think we need more time to play as a team. We are also quite inexperienced, so we need to learn from each result. But I'm satisfied with our performance in this event as everything is leaning towards the positive," added Jiang.

But to really make an impact at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Jiang's team will need to make the most of the next few years to keep improving in order to stay on top in China while also learning more from some of the best rinks in the world.