The women's curling national team defeated Japan on the first day of the group stage at the 2025 Harbin Winter Asian Games, securing their second consecutive win and sailing smoothly toward the championship.
The Korean women's curling national team (skip Kim Eun-ji, third Kim Min-ji, second Kim Su-ji, lead Seol Ye-eun, and pips Seol Ye-ji) defeated Japan 6-4 in the second match of the women's curling preliminary round-robin held on the 9th at the Pingpang Curling Arena in Harbin, China, during the 2025 Harbin Winter Asian Games.
Earlier that morning, the women's team crushed Taiwan 11-0 in their first match, accumulating two wins in the group stage.
Nine countries are participating in the women's curling event at this tournament, and after the round-robin, the top four teams will advance to the semifinals. Korea is aiming for its first gold medal in this event in 18 years since 2007.
The national team scored 1 point in the first end with the hammer against Japan, their main rival for the championship. In the second end, Japan, holding the hammer, created a blank end. A blank end is a strategy where the team with the hammer deliberately scores zero points to retain the hammer in the next end and aim for multiple points.
Korea defended well in the third end, conceding only 1 point to Japan, and in the fourth end with the hammer, Kim Eun-ji added 2 points with a draw shot, finishing the first half leading 3-1.
In the fifth end, Korea stole 1 point, but in the sixth end, Japan scored a big 3-point end, tying the game at 4-4. Korea then scored 2 points with the hammer in the seventh end to make it 6-4.
In the final eighth end, with Japan holding the hammer, Korea controlled the button and set up multiple guards to minimize scoring, and just before the end of the eighth end, Japan conceded, securing Korea's victory.
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