THE PHILIPPINES’ Marc Pfister and Kathleen Dubberstein smashed Qatar’s Mabarka Al-Abdulla and Nasser Abdulrahman Alyafei, 11-3, on Wednesday to remain unscathed in the curling mixed doubles event of the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China.
The pair of Mr. Pfister, a Fil-Swede, and Ms. Dubberstein, a Fil-Am, bucked a slow start and climbed back from an early 3-0 deficit to claim their third win in a row and closer to snaring the two semis slots.
The unranked tandem was coming off a shock 12-6 triumph over heavily favored Kim Kyeongae and Jihoon Seong of South Korea and a 10-2 win over Keremet Asanbaeva and Ishkhak Abykeev of Kyrgyzstan the day before.
The Filipinos were facing China’s Wang Zhiyu and Han Yu, who were also unbeaten in two starts following victories over Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, last night and are scheduled to battle the Kazakhs in their final group stage match on Thursday.
Pfister and Dubberstein are eyeing to book one of the two slots from the group to the semis slated for Friday.
The No. 1 nation in each bracket will automatically advance to the semis while the other slot will be contested by the second and third-placed teams from each group battling for the last semis slot via crossover format.
If the stars align, the country could end up earning a crack a breakthrough medal in the quadrennial event.
Apart from curling, the country has also fielded entries in short track speed skating, figure skating, alpine and freestyle skiing and snowboarding. — Joey Villar