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Chinese curling teams off to winning start at Sapporo Asiad

Xinhua, February 18, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Chinese women's team overcame Chinese Taipei 20-2 in their first match at the Sapporo Winter Asian Games here on Saturday.

China, silver medalist in the Pacific-Asia Championships in 2016, did not give their opponents any chance as the took an early 14-1 lead after the fouth end. Chinese Taipei chose to end the game after China led 20-2 after the seventh.

"I'm very satisfied with their performance today," said the coach Tan Weidong. "They cooperated quite well and the young players showed their confidence in the match."

"The veterans like Wang Bingyu and Zhouyan didn't play competitively over the last two years. The most important thing for them is to find the rhythm in the Asiad, getting prepared for the World Championships next month in Beijing," he added.

Wang Bingyu, the skipper for China, said she and her teammates adjusted to the venue quite well and she hoped the whole team could be more and more confident.

"It's my third time to compete in the Asiad. I won bronze medals twice and I hope I can win the gold this time," Wang said.

In the other women's match, Japan beat Qatar 17-1.

The Chinese men's curling team overcame Kazakhstan 12-1, winning their first match with ease at the Sapporo Winter Asian Games here on Saturday.

China, silver medalist in the Pacific-Asia Championships in 2016, took the lead from the first end and enlarged it to 9-0 in the fifth. Kazakhstan earned their only point in the sixth, going on to lose the match.

"We are very proud and excited to be the first team competing at the Sapporo Asiad in our entire delegation," said Chinese first Zang Jialiang. "We had some pressure for sure, but when the competition began, we just became totally focused," Zhang added.

Chinese skipper Liu Rui, the fourth winner for China in the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, says the victory is the result of intensive training. " We've been trained together for five years, and we knew each other quite well. Our aim here is trying our best in every match and I hope the best result will come eventually," Liu said.

The team's head coach Victor G. Kim shares that view, and says that the chance to travel around Asia has helped the team hone its skills.

"We established the curling team in 2003 and began to compete in Asia region in 2007. We don't have our own venue in our country, so the team took every chance to practice and improve during every competition," said Kim, who is also skipper for Kazakhstan.

In the morning's other matches, host Japan beat Chinese Taipei 11-3, and South Korea outclassed Qatar 20-0. Endit