GB wheelchair curlers beaten by top-ranked Koreans

Great Britain suffered a second defeat in the wheelchair curling mixed doubles event at the Winter Paralympics, beaten 14-3 in just seven ends by world number ones South Korea in Milan-Cortina.

The team of Jo Butterfield and Jason Kean, who also lost their opening match on Wednesday, were unable to match the set-up play and accuracy of their opponents.

“We’ve got a good idea of what went wrong – shot making,” said Kean, who is making his Paralympic Games debut.

The GB pair could only score one with the advantage of the final stone hammer in the first and third ends.

It all fell away for the Britons in the fourth end with the Korean pair of Hyejin Baek and Yongsuk Lee 3-2 up in the match and scoring four with one stone each to play. Butterfield missed a take-out attempt and Baek sent her final stone into the house to secure a score of five to put them 8-2 ahead at the break.

GB opted to use the powerplay in the fifth end but once again Korea controlled the end and were able to steal two to leave them 10-2 up and firmly in control.

Although GB pulled one back in the sixth end, the Koreans maintained their dominance with another strong seventh end to add another four and the match was brought to an early conclusion before the scheduled final end.