FOCUSED and confident. This is how the Philippine women’s team will be, heading into their next game with Hong Kong in the ongoing 2025 Pan Continental Curling Championships.
“We are going into the game against Hong Kong focused and confident. We have played them before and know they are one of the strong teams in the field,” said skipper Kathleen Dubberstein after the Philippine women’s team moved further into the lead of Group B.
The Philippines is now ahead of their bracket with three straight wins, after their round-robin matches in Eveleth, Minnesota.
They grabbed the solo lead after the Filipinas prevailed in a close game with Kazakhstan, 8-6.
Dubberstein and their crew are now ahead of Hong Kong, which is now in third spot at 2-1.
Hong Kong, which is captained by Ling Ye Hung, posted win no. 2 after repelling Brazil, 10-2, and then fell to Puerto Rico, 8-11.
The Filipinas earlier beat Brazil, 13-5, and Puerto Rico, 8-6.
Meanwhile, Emily Pinnelli’s Puerto Rico slipped into second position at 3-1, with their win over Hong Kong.
Philippine men’s and women’s coach Miggy Gutierrez said Dubberstein’s squad is in a must-win situation.
“They need to win their entire tournament to advance to the A-division alongside the men. This is particularly important this year given it is the last time it has this particular format before they reconfigure the entire qualifying format for worlds,” said Gutierrez.
In the men’s action, Marc Pfister’s side dropped their games with Team USA, 2-9, and Japan, 4-7, in Group A action at Virginia, Minnesota.
This gave the Philippines a 1-3 slate, before their game with China, which pulled through with a 10-3 demolition of South Korea.
Team USA has a 4-0 slate in the lead with Canada, which waylaid New Zealand.
