Rachel Homan's Olympic gold pursuit off to rocky start
Canada loses 8-6 to South Korea in opening draw, will face Sweden at 6 a.m. ET on Thursday
CBC Sports
Rachel Homan and her Team Canada rink stumbled out of the gate in their pursuit of a gold medal, losing 8-6 to South Korea in the first draw of the Olympic women's curling tournament.
South Korea jumped to a 4-1 lead after five ends. A comeback appeared to be in the cards with Canada trailing 5-4 after eight ends. But Korea put the game away in the ninth with a steal of three after Homan overthrew her final stone.
VIDEO | South Korea steals 3 in 9th end
[VIDEO src="51624"]
The match was always going to be a battle. In their previous seven meetings, Homan held only a 4-3 edge against EunJung Kim's rink.
Canada will face another tough test when it returns to the ice at 6 a.m. ET on Thursday to take on Sweden and skip Anna Hasselborg.
Sweden, whose two gold medals in women's curling matches Canada's Olympic total, is again one of the top contenders, along with Great Britain and Switzerland.
Canada plays Switzerland in Draw 5 and Great Britain in the final preliminary-round draw.