THE Marc Pfister-led Philippine men’s curling team started off on the right foot at the the Olympic Qualification Event over the weekend
Pfister’s squad has racked up two wins and a loss in their first three games in an international meet held for the next two weeks at the Kelowna Curling Club in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
In their latest encounter, Team Philippines took a 2-5 loss to China, with the squad of Xu Xiaoming taking the solo lead with three straight victories.
“Wasn’t a particularly sharp game from either team, but just had a few more unfortunate missed shots. Learned on what to correct and we’ll be ready again for tomorrow’s draws,” Philippine coach Miggy Gutierrez told the Manila Standard.
Team Philippines, which shares second spot at 2-1 with the United States and Japan, earlier pulled off a 6-2 win over New Zealand, in their opening game, before repulsing Poland, 9-2.
Against New Zealand, Team Philippines pulled away after the count got tied at 1-all on the fifth end.
Two stones scored in the ninth end gave the Filipino side a 3-1 advantage.
In their game against the Polish side, Team Philippines was ahead, 6-2, after six ends.
“Our team improved significantly into the second game. We were onto a different match versus the other undefeated team China,” added Gutierrez.
The competition features three competitions, which are the women’s, men’s and mixed doubles, and will determine the final two places for National Olympic Committees (NOCs) in each event at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
