Hot weather nations aim to impress on ice, snow

They may be small in numbers, but some emerging delegations from Asia's hottest or driest regions are huge in ambition, and they're raring to make their presence felt on the ice and snow in Harbin, Heilongjiang province.

Take the Philippines, for example, which just won a mixed doubles roundrobin match against South Korea in early competition of the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin.

Few, if any, would have picked curling debutants Kathleen Dubberstein and Marc Pfister over the top-ranked South Korean duo of 2018 Olympic silver medalist Kim Kyungae and teammate Seong Ji-hoon.