THE Philippines made an immediate impact at the Ninth Asian Winter Games in Harbin with a 12-6 upset of South Korea in the mixed doubles team event of curling on Tuesday at the Pingfang Curling Arena.

The unranked pair of Filipino-Swedish Marc Pfister and Kathleen Dubberstein turned out a nightmare for the world’s No. 13 and Asia’s top-seeded South Korean tandem of Jihoon Seong and Kim Kyeongae at the start of round robin games in Group A.

“It’s indeed a delightful news and a great start for Team Philippines,” said Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino before boarding a plane to Harbin, China’s foremost winter destination.

“It’s morale boosting ahead of this Friday’s opening ceremony and I hope we stay this way,” added Tolentino, who will rendezvous with chef de mission Ricky Lim and host a team dinner with the 20-athlete Team Philippines on Thursday.

The Koreans tried to fight back from a slow start but the Filipinos had the go-ahead and scored five more points in the seventh end to seal the victory.

“We are definitely the underdog team here but our athletes are here to compete and they are proud to represent the country,” Curling Pilipinas secretary-general Jarryd Bello said. “We have a chance to secure a medal we beat one of the top teams already.”

Eleven countries are seeing action in the mixed doubles event and were divided into two groups—Philippines, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Chinese-Taipei are in Group A and host China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Thailand are in Group B.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals on Friday with the final set on Saturday.

“We got a 5-0 start but South Korea made the game interesting, but we prevailed,” Lim said. “This win gives us and our other athletes hope and I hope we sustain our winning ways up to the medal stage.”

Pfister and Dubberstein played a pair from Kyrgyzstan later Tuesday and will take on Qatar at 10 a.m. and China at 6 p.m. to complete the round-robin stage on Wednesday.

Short track speed skater Peter Groseclose and his coach John Henry Krueger are already in Harbin ahead of the competition in men’s 1,500 meters quarterfinal and 500 and 1,000 meters heats on Friday.

Expected to check in Saturday are figure skaters Cathryn Limketkai and Sofia Frank while Paolo Borromeo, Isabella Gamez and Alexandr Korovin are due on Sunday.

The opening ceremony is set on Friday at the Harbin International Convention Exhibition and Sports Center.

PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino flies to Harbin on Tuesday to lead a 20-athlete delegation that will see action in the Ninth Asian Winter Games.

“I believe our winter sport athletes can deliver, not in terms of medals, but in terms of the exposure and experience that’s needed as we also put weight on our thrust for the Winter Olympics,” said Tolentino on Monday.

The Harbin Games start with Friday’s opening ceremony at the Harbin International Convention Exhibition and Sports Center and will close on February 14.

The 20 athletes headed for Harbin, China’s foremost winter destination, is the biggest so far for the Philippines, according to Tolentino, who also announced that snowboarder Adrian Lee Tongko suffered a knee injury while training in Hakuba in Japan and won’t be with the team anymore.

Team Philippines is composed of Francis Ceccarelli and Tallulah Proulx in slalom of Alpine skiing, Laetaz Amihan Rabe in free ski slopestyle, big air and halfpipe of snowboarding, as well as short-track speed skater Peter Groseclose, figure skating pair of Isabella Gamez and Alexander Korovin and figure skaters Paolo Borromeo, Cathryn Limketkai and Sofia Frank.

Joining them are the men’s curling team of Benjo Delarmente, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and Marc Pfister and the women’s squad of Anne Bonache, Kathleen Dubberstein, Leilani Dubberstein, Sheila Mariano and Jessica Pfister also of curling.

A total of 1,275 athletes from 34 countries are seeing action in 64 events in 11 sports—alpine skiing, biathlon, cross country, curling, figure skating, freestyle skating, ice hockey, short track speed skating, ski mountaineering, snowboarding and speed skating—in Harbin.

“We are optimistic and confident this team would get all the honing opportunities that would help them qualify for next year’s Winter Olympics,” Tolentino said. “We’ve already succeeded in winning gold medals in the Summer Olympics, and the thrust is to win medals in the Winter Olympics.”

Italy will host the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina from February 6 to 22 next year.

Ricky Lim is the chef de mission in Harbin.

Jim Apelar, president of Philippine Ski and Snowboard Federation (PSSF), received the bad news on Tongko’s knee from his coach Kevin Bernier.

“Kevin [Bernier] told me the swelling did not subside, so, Kevin feels that he may only hurt himself more competing with a swollen right knee,” Apelar said. “He had a bad fall, unfortunately just few days from the competition.”