Winter Olympics: can the Chinese women’s curling team return to glory with new skip Han Yu on home soil?

Chinese curling reached a high water mark in 2010 when the women’s team won bronze at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, led by Wang Bingyu

A new generation of curlers has emerged and China will send a youthful squad to compete against the best in the world in Beijing

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China’s Wang Bingyu led the way for women’s curling in the country for year, now, can the next generation take over? Photo: AFP

Published: 4:17pm, 19 Jan 2022

While curling has long been dominated by Nordic countries such as Canada, Sweden and Finland, the game has gone global as of late and expanded its cultural reach. China and curling sound like strange bedfellows, however the country’s women’s team has a legitimate chance to win a medal at Beijing 2022.

The squad was recently announced 21-year-old curling sensation Han Yu named at skip, leading a foursome that also features Zong Ziqi, Zhang Lijun, Jiang Xindi and alternate Yan Hui.

These five recently competed at the 2021 World Championships in Canada where the team went a respectable 6-7 to put them 10th out of 14th.

While this might not seem like an impressive record, a bit of context will give Chinese curling fans hope these women could sweep their way on to the podium come February in Beijing. The average age of the squad is 23 and China have signalled they are ready to usher in a new era of women’s curling on home soil.

Can the Chinese women lead a rebirth of curling in the country by winning a medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing? Photo: Xinhua

Two of the squad’s victories at the World Championships were quite impressive: a 5-2 win over 2018 Olympic bronze medallists Japan (led by skip Satsuki Fujisawa), a 7-6 win over Scotland’s Eve Muirhead and her team, plus a 7-5 victory over the defending Olympic champions from Sweden, who are skipped by Anna Hasselborg.

Winter Olympics: can the Chinese women’s curling team return to glory with new skip Han Yu on home soil?

Chinese curling reached a high water mark in 2010 when the women’s team won bronze at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, led by Wang Bingyu A new generation of curlers has emerged and China will send a youthful squad to compete against the best in the world in Beijing

Chinese curling reached a high water mark in 2010 when the women’s team won bronze at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, led by Wang Bingyu

A new generation of curlers has emerged and China will send a youthful squad to compete against the best in the world in Beijing