Cortina d'ampezzo: South Korea missed out on the medal round in the women's curling tournament at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics following a loss to Canada on Friday. Skip Gim Eun-ji's South Korea lost to Rachel Homan's Canada 10-7 at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, about 260 kilometers northeast of Milan.

According to Yonhap News Agency, with the top four teams after nine round-robin matches advancing to the semifinals, South Korea, at 5-4, finished in fifth place, behind Sweden (7-2), the United States (6-3), Switzerland (6-3), and Canada (6-3). After its loss, South Korea still held out hope of squeezing into the semifinals, as the U.S. and Switzerland were battling in an extra end all tied at 6-6. A Swiss victory would have created a three-way tie involving the U.S., South Korea, and Britain at 5-4, which would have required a tiebreaking procedure to determine the fourth team headed to the semifinals.

But the U.S. scored the decisive point with its final stone in the 11th end to seal the win and earn the ticket to the semifinals. Canada scored first in the opening end and then stole a point with South Korea holding the hammer in the second end to grab a 2-0 lead.

South Korea then promptly took the lead with three points in the third end, and a back-and-forth battle ensued. Canada responded with two points in the fourth end with Homan's double takeout, and then South Korea pulled even with a point in the fifth end.

Canada then landed a big blow with four points in the sixth end for an 8-4 lead, with Homan's draw giving Canada four stones closer to the button than any South Korean rock. South Korea only managed a point in the seventh end, and Canada pulled away again with a point in the eighth end.

South Korea tried to make things more interesting, scoring twice in the ninth end to turn it into a 9-7 contest. But Canada held the hammer in the final end and secured one final point to close out the three-point victory.