South Korea failed to advance to the wheelchair curling final at the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics after losing 8-6 to Norway on Friday.
The South Korean team of Seo Soon-seok, Bang Min-ja, Cha Jae-goan, Jung Seung-won and Lee Dong-ha was defeated by Norway in a thrilling extra-end semifinal contest, failing to reach the gold medal game at Gangneung Curling Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon Province.
South Korea will next face Canada, which lost to China 4-3 in its semifinal game, for a chance at the bronze medal on Saturday.
South Koreans were looking to reach the final for the first time since Vancouver 2010, where they earned silver. They were also looking secure the country's second medal at the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics.
South Korea reached the last four as the top performer among 12 competitors in the round-robin preliminary round with nine wins and two losses. Norway was one of the two teams that beat South Korea in the qualifying stage with a 9-2 win, and it again overcame the host.
Unlike in the preliminary round, the two sides played a tight game. They were tied at 4-4 after four ends, but the Norwegians went ahead in the seventh by scoring two points.
The South Koreans, however, didn't give up. The team fought back and earned two points to force the game to an extra end.
In the ninth, however, South Korea committed hog line violations three times and let Norway control the game. Seo's last stone failed to take out Norway's two stones on the ice, which gave the visitors an 8-6 win. (Yonhap)
