On the evening of the 2nd, the first competition day of the Beijing Winter Olympics ended the competition for 4 curling matches, and the Ling Zhi/Fan Suyuan combination, which played as the host, welcomed the first opponent of the round robin race at the D circuit, the Swiss combination Pere /Rios, and finally after an overtime, the Chinese combination narrowly won the opponent 7-6 and won the opening. According to the schedule, the next match of the Chinese team will be against the Australian team that lost this round, and the game time is 9:05 a.m. on the 3rd.
Because it was an evening competition, the Chinese combination had time to adapt to the field training on the morning of the 2nd, and the two also adapted to the A and B tracks in the 30-minute training, and carried out basic exercises such as pitching, spinning and hitting, and from the feedback of the two at that time, they were still quite satisfied with the conditions of the venue. At that time, in an interview, the two also made predictions about the pair they were about to face, and Ling Zhi revealed at the time that he had played against the Swiss team 3 times before, in fact, he was not afraid of his opponents, if he could maintain a good attitude, the outcome of this game was really difficult to say.
But having said that, but the game starts to rely on strength to speak, the pair from Switzerland after all, the last Winter Olympics runner-up Rios pressed the team, the experienced veteran is still very trustworthy, and the ability he showed in the game is still worthy of recognition. In contrast, the two Chinese players were officially finalized before the Olympic trials, and the overall preparation time was only 3 months, so in terms of ability and tacit understanding, everyone believed that the Chinese combination and the opponent Pere/Rios were not on the same level.
However, the course of the game did not develop as expected, Switzerland's performance was not so good, and the Chinese team's performance was eye-catching. In the first round of the game, the Chinese team with the advantage of the home field came up and overwhelmed the opponent in momentum, whether it was Ling Zhi's pitching pot or Fan Suyuan's ice brushing, they all performed better than the opponent, although the opponent sat on the Olympic runner-up, but in the first game, the Chinese team took the lead in scoring 1 point. In the second set, the Chinese team continued to play steadily, relying on delicate jug throwing technology and accurate ice brushing technology to control the dominance, 2-0, the young Chinese duo somewhat unexpectedly got such a fantastic start. In the third game, the Chinese team, which was more and more courageous, did not give the opponent any chance, and quickly extended the score to 3-0, which was the only one in the 4 games that started at the same time to play this huge score.
Statistics show that at the end of the first 3 innings, the Chinese team's throwing success rate exceeded 80%, which is also the key to the pair's ability to get such a big score. However, in the fourth game, the Swiss combination gradually found the rhythm of the game and successfully scored 2 points. At the end of the first half, the Chinese team temporarily led 3-2. In the fifth set, the Chinese team once made some small mistakes in the game, but fortunately saved 1 point in the end and extended the advantage to 4-2. In the sixth set that followed, the Chinese team once again made a mistake in throwing pots, and the opponent's famous player Rios completed a wonderful blow at a key moment, helping the Swiss team to achieve a rebound, and the score reached 5-4.
In the penultimate set, the game entered a tug-of-war, the Chinese team scored 2 points again, and reversed the score to 6-5, and the two sides will usher in the final life-and-death battle in the final set. In the last game, although the Swiss team Rios made a mistake, the performance of the Chinese team was not very satisfactory, and finally the two sides fought 6-6 in the 8th game, and the game entered extra time.
In the final overtime, Ling Zhi's excellent performance helped the Chinese team to win the opponent 7-6 and win the opening red. According to the schedule, the next match of the Chinese team will be against the Australian team that lost this round, and the game time is 9:05 a.m. on the 3rd.
Text/Beiqing Sports Zhang Kunlong