Dec 18 (Reuters) – South Korean curlers Jeong Yeong-seok and Kim Seon-yeong secured a spot in the mixed doubles competition at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics after defeating Australians Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt 10-5 in the final qualifier on Thursday.
Kim and Jeong took a 6-3 lead in the fifth end and held their advantage through the remainder of the contest at the Kelowna Curling Club in British Columbia, Canada.
The Koreans, who beat China 7-3 in the first playoff round, set up three stones in the final end which could not be moved by the Australians, earning them a steal of three points and the final quota on offer for the Games.
“We just wanted to play our best whether we won or lost. We did play our best and now we get to go to the Olympics, and we will try our best there too,” Jeong said.
Gill and Hewitt were the first Australians to compete in curling at the Olympics when they appeared at the 2022 Games and were among the country’s top medal hopes for Milano Cortina.
They finished last in Beijing but had improved significantly since, winning bronze at this year’s World Championships and briefly rising to number one in the mixed doubles rankings last month.
The Australians had missed a chance to secure a spot at the Games earlier on Thursday when they lost to the Czech Republic’s Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky.
With the match tied at 5-5, Zelingrova scored one in the final end to clinch a nail-biting 6-5 win.
“We’re very proud, but it’s not sunk in yet. Maybe it will after a couple of hours,” Chabicovsky said.
“I think when we have a lot on the line, then that’s when we perform our best. The more there is on the line, the more nervous you are, the better we play.”
The mixed doubles curling tournament at the Winter Olympics will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo from February 4-10.
The final qualifying places for the men’s and women’s Olympic tournaments were decided last week.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Nashik, India; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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