[The 14th National Winter Games]
On the morning of February 20, the curling open group mixed doubles final was held at the Inner Mongolia Ice Sports Training Center. The veteran-led Heilongjiang team and the "Home Alone" Fujian team "met on a narrow road" and staged a suspenseful championship battle.
In the semi-finals on the 19th, the Fujian team Wang Zhiyu/Zhu Ze Yangxu narrowly defeated the Beijing team Ling Zhi/Han Yu 8-7 in overtime. Their opponent today is the Jilin team who defeated the Jilin team by a big score in the other semi-final. Heilongjiang team Badxin/Jiang Yilun combination. Badxin once achieved fourth place with his teammates in the mixed doubles competition at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. This result is still the best result of the Chinese team in the curling mixed doubles at the Winter Olympics. He has been teaching at Harbin Sports Institute and returned to the competition during the "14th Winter".
In the first game, the Heilongjiang team accurately hit the opponent's curling stone in the center of the base camp in the fourth throw, sealing the victory of the game; in the second game, the Fujian team knocked the opponent's ice away in the fifth throw. Hu, occupying the "C position" of the base camp, won the game 1-0 to regain one point. In the third game, the Fujian team relied on the tactics of throwing defensive pots many times to expand its advantage. It won the game 2-0 and overtook the total score.
In the next few rounds of competition, the situation was very stalemate, and the victory or defeat was not announced until the last shot. The total score was once tied at 4-4 and 6-6. In the end, the two sides of equal strength entered the extra round. In the extra round, the Heilongjiang team was in an unfavorable situation of throwing first, but Jiang Yilun played calmly and steadily, choosing to occupy the position for protection in the last throw, and successfully hit the pot to a position that blocked the opponent's pot path, causing the Fujian team, which had the upper hand, to throw the last pot. Unable to realize the tactical concept, the Heilongjiang team finally narrowly defeated the team with a total score of 7 to 6.
"Our opponents have advantages in physical strength, technology, and stability, so in many games we have been in a slightly passive state, and we can be said to have been catching up. During the game, we have been working hard to adjust our state and give full play to our abilities. With the advantage of experience, I have already been mentally prepared to play 8 rounds and enter the extra round." Badxin said, "I am very happy to return to the competition and win the gold medal after retirement. With my former teammates, coaches, and masters I really enjoy the process of competing. Although I am already a university teacher, while completing my work tasks, I will still participate in the competition if I have the opportunity in the future."
"The exciting thing about curling is that the outcome is always in suspense until the last throw. From the semifinals on, we tried to focus only on our own stones and not on our opponents. Our tactics were relatively conservative, and we were worried that if we took a risk, we would Any chance will be lost, so we keep weighing it." Wang Zhiyu said, "The players on the Heilongjiang team are all very strong, and Badxin is also the 'big brother' I admire. Although we lost the game in the end, we still learned from our opponents. Learn a lot of tactics."
For Zhu Zeyangxu, the "Fourteen Winters" trip was her first time participating in an important national competition. "This game is indeed very tense, but since we have reached this point, we can't think too much and just treat it as a learning opportunity. Thanks to my teammates and coaches for constantly encouraging me, stabilizing my emotions, and making my throws successful. The rate is slowly improving, and today I didn’t make any particularly big mistakes due to nervousness. In short, let’s accumulate experience, summarize problems, and continue to work hard!”
(Guangming Daily reporter Zhou Shixiang, Gao Ping and Wang Xiao)