By Lee Hana
Photos = Yonhap News

The Korean women's curling team has taken the PyeongChang Olympics by storm, defeating most of the curling world's great powers over the past week. The team now has its eyes set on the semifinals.

Team Korea continued its winning streak today when it handed Sweden its first curling loss during a round robin match held at the Gangneung Curling Center on Feb. 19. Korea's women won against the undefeated Sweden 7-6, scoring yet another surprising victory.

Korea, an underdog in women's curling that has burst onto the scene at Pyeongchang, ranks eighth in the world, while Sweden ranks fifth.

Over the past few days, however, the Korean women's curling team racked up victories over Canada, a defending Olympic champion, as well as Switzerland and the U.K., the world No. 2 and 4. It also beat China, winner of the 2017 Asian Winter Games gold medal.

With all these sweeping wins under its belt, Team Korea currently occupies the number one spot on the women's round robin leaderboard, along with Sweden. So far both countries have won five games, and suffered only one loss out of the six games played.

Team Korea has three more round robin matches to go. It will face off against the U.S. on Feb. 20, and play the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) and Denmark on Feb. 21.

The 10 competing teams need to rank within the top four to qualify for the semifinals. Should there be a tie, a rematch determines the hopefuls for the next round.

In the play-offs, the teams in the first and fourth position, and the countries in the second and third position, will meet on the ice to advance to the finals.



hlee10@korea.kr