HARBIN, China — The Philippines celebrates its first-ever Asian Winter Games gold medal, which the national men's curling team won on Friday night in Harbin City in China's northernmost province of Heilongjiang—beating its nemesis South Korea, 5-3.

The victory was vindication for the country's curling squad in their earlier loss days ago to the powerhouse South Koreans, 6-1, which nearly dampened the Filipinos' hope for winning top honors and the highest feat by any Southeast Asian country in the history of the continental Games.

The other night, the philippine team of Alan 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.

Overwhelmed by emotions on striking the gold, 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. This is so weird, isn't it?" enthused the curler who began playing the game as part of his "weight loss journey."

Early in the gold medal match with South Korea, the nationals established a 3-1 lead but the SoKors did not fall behind after answering back to tie the score, 3-all. The Pinoys then grabbed the lead once more, 4-3, and fended off their rivals efforts to return into the match.

With the triumph, the Philippines has secured a place at 2026 Olympic pre-qualifiers later this year.