HARBIN, China— Unranked Marc Pfister and Kathleen Dubberstein came close to nailing a historic medal for the Philippines only to let it slip away in the 9th Asian Winter Games here on Saturday.

Han Yu and Wang Zhiyu of World’s No. 15 China denied the Filipino curling duo from climbing up the podium by pulling off a come-from-behind 6-5 victory in their mixed double, bronze-medal encounter at the Harbin Pingfang District Curling Arena.

“I thought we played not that bad, the experience was not just there,’’ Pfister said after they zoomed ahead at 4-0 in the first two ends before the host country patiently erased the deficit and turned things in its favor.

It was a good run though for a nation unexpected to figure prominently in the sport after Pfister and Dubberstein breezed through the round-robin phase of 12 countries with four victories against a defeat.

The Filipinos also defeated Chinese Taipei in the qualification match before falling against eventual gold medalist Japan in the crossover semifinals.

Pfister, who played for Switzerland’s national curling team before acquiring a Philippine passport, and the Filipino-American Dubberstein saw their lead wiped out on the sixth end with Han and Wang taking command, 6-4, entering the eighth and last end.

Scoreless for five consecutive ends after immediately seizing control after the second end, Team Philippines somehow gained positional advantage in the end, but Dubberstein missed her final rock that blew their chances of a reversal.

“Personally, I think I could have done better on my last rocks, but the way I missed the shots was very marginal. So if we can work on honing those skills, I think we can do great next time,’’ said
Dubberstein, who hails from Wisconsin and played in the US nationals from 2011 to 2019.

Pfister will begin his campaign with the Philippine men’s squad on Sunday while Dubberstein joins the women’s team in competition on the same day.

“We just played six or seven games together (before the tournament) and time was running out. That was the reason,’’ said Pfister, who saw action for Switzerland in the world and European championships several times.

Speed skater Peter Joseph Groseclose failed to advance to the medal races of the men’s 1500m and 500m in short track speed skating at the HIC Multifunctional Hall.

The 17-year-old Groseclose finished sixth (2:32.668) in his 1500m semifinal heat and ended up third in the 500m quarterfinal 3 with 42.331 seconds behind China’s Lin Xiaojun (41.325) and Kazakhstan’s Abzal Azhgaliyev (41.876) Groseclose, who participated in the Winter Youth Olympics last year, can redeem himself in the men’s 1000m on Sunday.

Over at the Alpine Skiing Slalom Stadium in Yabuli, Heilongjiang province, Utah’s Filipino-American Proulx Tallulah did not reach the podium after placing 16th against 45 skiers in her two total runs with one minute and 53.42 seconds total in the women’s slalom event.

Her time was almost 20 seconds slower than Japanese gold winner Chisaki Maeda (1:33.50). South Korea Sohui Gim got the silver with 1:34.06 time while Japanese Eren Watanabe settled for the bronze with 1:34.92 time.