As the longest event at the Beijing Winter Olympics, curling took the lead. In the curling mixed doubles competition, Fan Suyuan and Ling Zhijia defeated the Swiss team and won the opening red of the Winter Olympics for the Chinese sports delegation.
Despite their late start in curling, the Chinese team had an excellent record, with the Chinese women's team consisting of Zhou Yan, Yue Qingshuang, Liu Yin and Wang Bingyu winning the 2009 Women's Curling World Championships.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the Chinese women's team won the bronze medal, which was also the first medal won by the Chinese team in the winter Olympics collective event. At the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, the Chinese men's team finished fourth. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the Chinese team finished fourth in the mixed doubles event.
In this Winter Olympics, a total of 10 teams participated in the curling mixed doubles event, and 27-year-old Ling Zhi and 25-year-old Fan Suyuan were both playing in the Olympic Games for the first time. In the mixed doubles competition of the first two games of the Olympic Trials, the two men ranked first in the success rate of male and female players, and finally formed a new combination.
In the first match, the two opponents are the Swiss duo of Perret and Rios, the duo is currently ranked second in the world, winning the mixed doubles title at the 2017 World Championships and the silver medal in mixed doubles at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
The situation in the first set was quite glued, and finally the "big compass" was asked out, and the referee ruled that the Chinese pot was closer, and the Chinese team got 1 point.
In the second set, the two teams played very well, Rios played a double fly, but Ling Zhi then played a beautiful blow, the Swiss team made a mistake in the last shot, and the Chinese team won a point with the backhand.
In the third set, the Chinese team established an early advantage, scoring another point in the first hand to lead 3-0. In the fourth set, Switzerland scored two points and trailed 2-3 on aggregate.
In the fifth set, Ling Zhi played quite well in the fourth shot, Rios made a mistake in the last shot, and Fan Suyuan also made a mistake in the last shot, and although he missed the opportunity to get a big point, he still scored 1 point, and the total score was 4-2.
In the sixth set, Fan Suyuan made a mistake in the last shot, and The Swiss backhand scored 3 points, and the total score was 5-4 to surpass the Chinese team.
In the seventh set, Rios made mistakes in three consecutive shots, and the Chinese duo seized the opportunity to score two points with the backhand to lead 6-5 on aggregate. In the eighth set, Rios made another mistake and the Swiss team called a timeout at one point. However, Rios then made another mistake, the Chinese team also asked for a timeout, the Swiss team scored 1 point, and the two teams drew 6-6.
In the overtime, the Chinese combination called a timeout again, and Ling Zhi played a double fly, clearing the opponent's two positions. On the fourth shot, Ling Zhi played a double fly again. Fan Suyuan succeeded in his final shot and scored a key 1 point. In the end, the Chinese duo won 7-6. On February 3, the Chinese duo will play against Australia and Sweden in a row.