S. Korean women's curling team beats Japan to advance to finals

GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea defeated Japan on Friday and advanced to the PyeongChang Olympics women's curling finals for the first time. In the semifinals held at the Pyeongchang Curling Centre, the quartet led by skip, or captain, Kim Eun-jung, pulled off an 8-7 victory over Japan, which gave the only loss to the home team in the previous round robin session. With the triumph, South Korea secured at least a silver medal in curling, bagging the first-ever Olympic medal in the sport on home soil. It became the first Asian country to obtain a ticket for the finals at the Olympics. In the gold-medal decider on Sunday, South Korea will take on Sweden, which beat Britain in the another side of the draw. In round robin play, South Korea edged out Sweden 7-6. South Korea took the early lead in the first end as the skip's last shot brought three points at once. In the second end, Japan scored two to cut the lead to one point, but the even-keeled South Korean side restored the advantage to 7-4 in the fifth end. Japan made a dramatic comeback to score three points in the last two ends, resulting in a 7-7 tie. In the extra 11th end, however, captain Kim made a perfect shot to finish the game at 8-7. When the victory was confirmed, the curling center filled with roars and cheers from the home crowd. The South Korean team of the Kims has been a major sensation thanks to their remarkable run in the round robin preliminaries, rising from underdog to top dog. They came into the Olympics ranked eighth in the world and everyone thought they would be out of medal contention. When the Olympic started, however, they thrashed curling powerhouses like defending champion Canada and Sweden in the early stages of the 10-team all-to-all round. Canada and Sweden shared two gold medals each in previous five Olympic curling competitions, which became an Olympic sport in 1998. South Korea finished first in the round robin session, with an 8-1 record, and became the first team to clinch a berth in the semifinals. Japan was the only team that beat South Korea in the round robin and finished fourth to take on first-seeded South Korea in the semis. By beating Japan, South Korea has now defeated every team inside the top 10 in the world rankings here. Their hometown, Uiseong, has become the mecca for curling in South Korea, with the quartet nicknamed the "garlic girls," as their hometown is famous for growing quality garlic. Two of the girls are sisters and all are close friends, having trained together for years and built outstanding teamwork and chemistry that charmed the whole nation. In the run to the semifinals, Kim Eun-jung, the bespectacled skip, has become almost a cult hero, and her ability to remain poker-faced over the course of a match has inspired memes. The team's lead, Kim Yeong-mi, is now a household name because Kim Eun-jung repeatedly yells her given name to get the lead to sweep harder. When the captain called "Yeong-mi" on the ice sheet, the crowd cheered and chanted the name with the leader. Enthusiastic Koreans screamed and waved their flags when their athletes made spectacular shots. "We lost to Japan in the round robin play. That was our only defeat. After the match, I was so angry and sorry for the audience who gave us huge support," said Kim, who led the semifinal victory with the final draw shot, a throw aimed at reaching the target. "We were very motivated to win as we met Japan again in the semis. We focused more on every shot." For the finals against offensive Sweden, she said her team will try to defend opponent attacks in the first place. "Sweden delivers very offensive shots. So simply, we will watch first and manage our plays. That will help," she said. Other members, Kim Kyeong-ae, Kim Seon-yeong and Kim Yeong-mi, declined to hold media interviews in the mixed zone as they wanted not to be distracted ahead of the finals. brk@yna.co.kr (END)