Undefeated Italy reaches Olympic mixed doubles curling final

BEIJING, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Italy advanced to the final of the mixed doubles curling at Beijing 2022 here on Monday evening, beating former world champion Sweden 8-1 to take its 10th straight victory going into the competition.

The Italian duo of Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini left their Swedish opponents Oskar Eriksson and Almida de Val no chance to score a single point in the first four ends before building a 6-0 lead after the fifth end. Sweden pulled one back with a hammer in the sixth end, while conceding with a huge deficit ahead of the final end.

After finishing the semifinal, Mosaner and Constantini hugged their coaches and called their families, bringing Constantini to tears.

"We're feeling so happy and we're really proud of ourselves. We realized that when we saw our families on TV here and we started to cry," said Constantini, who began practising curling at a young age, even though the sport is not widely played in Italy.

"It was a magic moment. It's a dream," said Constantini.

Britain lost to PyeongChang 2018 bronze medalist Norway 6-5 in the other semifinal, and will take on Sweden for the bronze medal on Tuesday.