The Chinese men's curling team claimed their fourth win in a row in the round-robin at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games on Wednesday, while the women's team took their second victory.
The Chinese men's curling team beat the Germans 11-7 in the round-robin on Wednesday. [Tao Xiyi/Xinhua] |
The Chinese men beat the Germans 11-7 in the evening session after edging Switzerland 5-4 earlier Wednesday.
In the 10th end, Chinese skip Liu Rui played a perfect double takeout to remove both German stones and eventually win the game.
"It was a close match," said Liu. "We kept calm and played well."
They beat reigning European champions Switzerland in the morning session 5-4.
Tied at 3-3, China managed their hammer well after the mid-game break, blanking the sixth and seventh ends and taking a point in the eighth for a 4-3 lead with two ends to play.
Sven Michel was unable to score more than one for Switzerland in the ninth end and Liu Rui drew the winning point for China with the game's final stone.
It was the first time the Chinese men won four round-robin games in an Olympic curling tournament, after finishing with a 2-7 win/loss record in its only previous participation at Vancouver 2010.
The Chinese women beat their American rivals 7-4 in the round-robin. The two sides tied 3-3 after the seventh end, but in the eighth, Chinese skip Wang Bingyu made a nice draw to the four foot through a narrow port for the second point and took a first time lead of two points in the game.
The United States earned one point in the ninth, but China got two in the 10th to seal the win.
In the other women's matches, Sweden beat South Korea 7-4, Japan outplayed Russia 8-4, and Britain lost to Canana 9-6.
In the men's competition, Britain beat Switzerland 4-2, Russia lost to Canada 4-7, and Denmark outclassed Sweden 8-5 after losing to the United States 8-5.
Norway, the silver medalists in Vancouver, Norway, also maintained their unbeaten start to the competition with an 8-5 win against Germany.
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