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(From left to right) Team China skip Wang Bingyu, third Liu Yin, second Yue Qingshuang, lead Zhou Yan and fifth Liu Jinli pose with the trophy after defeating Sweden 8-6 in the final at the 2009 World Women's Curling Championship in Gangneung, east of Seoul, yesterday. It is the first world title for the young Chinese team, which was set up only nine years ago. The title, the second major international title this year after winning the World Winter University Games last month, makes China a strong gold medal contender for the Vancouver Winter Olympics next year. [Xinhua]
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Ten years ago, Wang Bingyu of China didn't know what a curling stone was.
Sunday afternoon in Gangneung, Korea she and her teammates defeated the two-time world and 2006 Olympic champions from Sweden to capture the Mount Titlis World Women's Curling Championship 2009.
Winners of 11 straight games coming in to the final, the squad from Harbin exchanged misses with Anette Norberg's Swedish foursome over the first few ends, swapping single points as the crowd of 3,800 buzzed in anticipation.
China scored the first deuce in the fourth end, for a 3-1 lead. They piled on the pressure in the fifth, and forced Norberg to make a hit and roll for a single point while facing three Chinese stones.
Wang, who captured the World University Games gold medal at her hometown last month, drew for another pair in the sixth when the Swedes missed a runback.
The seventh end saw Norberg bury a come-around on her first stone, and the normally unflappable Chinese skip gestured to the heavens when her takeout attempt, swept all the way, ticked a guard. Norberg drew for two and the gap was closed to one, at 5-4.
The drama continued in the eighth end, with Sweden in a dilemma. Norberg lay one but with three Chinese stones nearby. The seven-time European champion chose the tap-freeze – two shots in one attempt – but was only partially successful, as Wang hit and stuck for two points on a measurement for a 7-4 lead.
As is typical for a ninth end in this situation, Sweden found a way to wrangle a deuce and trailed 7-6 coming home.
Sweden had one buried behind cover until Norberg's last stone, which she elected to put into the rings as opposed to guard. Wang faced two choices: a double-takeout or a draw to the four-foot rings.
![China's 2008 silver turned to gold in Gangneung [WCF photo by Lee Young Gyu]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20090330/000802aa2f490b3a73b015.jpg "China's 2008 silver turned to gold in Gangneung [WCF photo by Lee Young Gyu]") |
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China's 2008 silver turned to gold in Gangneung [WCF photo by Lee Young Gyu]
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She elected the takeout, made it perfectly, and China had scored one for an historic 8-6 championship win.
It marks the first time an Asian country, in women's or men's play, has won the world championship.
