Miracle on Ice? Yes, indeed for the Filipino curlers after a rousing comeback against the world no. 17 China and assured the county at least of a silver in the Asian Winter Games
One more win stands in the way of Team Philippines and a first-ever Asian Winter Games gold medal.
That is after the country’s men’s curling team pulled off a stunning 7-6 come-from-behind win over host China in their semifinal clash at the Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena, Thursday, February 13.
The quintet of Alan Frei, Christian Haller, brothers Marc and Enrico Pfister, Alan Frei, and Benjo Delarmento rallied back from a 1-4 deficit in the opening four ends to tie things up at 6-all.
They completed the comeback after scoring a point in the eighth and final end to foil their Chinese counterparts and sealed a historic win.
Earlier, the Nationals zoomed past world no. 10 Japan in the qualification round and will now face South Korea–who dominated Hong Kong, 13-2 in their own semifinal clash–in the championship round later.
Meanwhile, the national women’s curling team earlier finished fifth in their campaign as the team composed of Jennifer de la Fuente, Leilani Dubberstein, Anne Bonache and Kathleen Dubberstein tallied an even 4-4 record in the round robin.
Furthermore, the Philippine figure skating team wrapped up their campaign in the 9th Asian Winter Games.
Isabella Gamez and Aleksandr Korovin missed out on a podium finish after placing fourth in the mixed pair event.
Over in the men’s and women’s singles competition, Paolo Borromeo, Kathryn Limketkai and Sofia Frank ended up all in the top 12.
[ALSO READ: Gamez-Korovin 4th place finish highlight PH figure skating campaign in Asian Winter Games]