Philippines shocks Korea, captures first-ever gold medal in Asian Winter Games

(UPDATED) The Philippines on Friday captured its breakthrough gold medal Asian Winter Games — the highest feat by any Southeast Asian country in the history of the Games.

READ: Asian Winter Games: PH pulls off upset vs China to enter curling gold medal match

This, as the country's men's curling team defeated South Korea, 5-3, on Friday in Harbin, China.

It was somehow a redemption for them as they lost days ago against the same nation, 1-6.

READ: PH men curlers advance, Amihan winds up 6th

Overwhelmed by emotions as they strike the gold, Alan Frei bared that their original target was a finish at the podium.

"We wanted to go for a medal, but the gold medal, this is overwhelming," said Alan Frei, one of the quartet. "This is so weird, isn't it?"

Just last night, the team of Frei, Marc Angelo Pfister, Christian Patrick Haller, Enrico Gabriel Pfister, and Benjo Delarmente stunned host country China, 7-6, to enter the finals. They also beat Japan, 10-4, in the semis qualifier.

In the gold medal match, the Filipino representatives established an early 3-1, but the Koreans did not fall behind after answering back to tie the score, 3-all.

The Pinoys grabbed the lead once more, 4-3, and fended off their rivals efforts to return into the match.

With the triumph, they have already secured a place at 2026 Olympic pre-qualifiers later this year.

"We were also lucky, and maybe we wanted it a bit more," Frei said. "It's day one again. Back to the beginning. Back to the gym." 

--With reports from Agence France-Presse