U.S. bags win over China at Beijing 2022 curling mixed doubles

BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. pair of Christopher Plys and Victoria Persinger defeated the Chinese team of Ling Zhi and Fan Suyuan 7-5 in the eighth session of the mixed doubles curling events of Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in the National Aquatics Center on Saturday and received gifts from the Chinese pair.

Fighting from 3-1 down, Ling and Fan managed to score two points in the fourth end to level it at 3-3. But in the fifth end, the U.S. team capitalized on Ling/Fan's mistake to score three points for a 6-3 lead.

China had some good shots in the sixth end and reduced the Americans' lead to 6-5. In the seventh end, the American pair scored one point en route to the 7-5 victory.

This is the second win for the American duo in the event after beating Sweden 8-7 with an extra end on Tuesday.

"The Chinese athletes played very well against us. They made a lot of great shots. It went back and forth until we were able to capitalize on some mistakes they made late in the game," Persinger said.

Fan gave two sets of pins featuring Beijing 2022 official mascots Bing Dwen Dwen to their rivals, and the two teams also took a photo together to mark the match.

"The pins are beautiful and so special. We'll remember this forever," said Persinger.

Plys also talked about Ling's hometown Harbin, a city in northeast China boasting a long history of ice and snow sports.

"I would love to go back to Harbin again, and it's always nice," said Plys, who has been to the city before.