Seoul: South Korea's losing skid reached three in the mixed doubles curling tournament of the Winter Olympics in northern Italy on Thursday, with the team of Kim Seon-yeong and Jeong Yeong-seok dropping both of their matches on the day.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim and Jeong first lost to the defending champions from Italy, Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, by 8-4 at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, some 400 kilometers northeast of Milan. Then in their second match of the day, Kim and Jeong took an 8-5 loss against Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann and Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland.
The South Koreans are now in an early 0-3 hole with six more matches to go in the round-robin phase. They opened the competition with a 10-3 loss to Sweden on Wednesday. South Korea is now in last place among 10 teams. The top four teams after round-robin action will qualify for the semifinals scheduled for Monday. The bronze medal match and the final will be Tuesday.
Against Italy, South Korea opened the scoring with a point in the first end, courtesy of Kim's takeout with her final stone. But then Italy scored six unanswered points over the next three ends to take control of the match. South Korea got a point back in the fifth end, only to see Italy respond with two points in the next end. South Korea's two points in the seventh end proved too little, too late.
In the latter match of the day, South Korea's 2-1 lead evaporated in the third end, when Switzerland scored four points with Schwaller-Huerlimann's promotion takeout. South Korea scored two points in the sixth end to cut the deficit to 6-5, but then Switzerland scored the two decisive points with another takeout by Schwaller-Huerlimann.