China loses to world champion Switzerland in Olympic women's team curling

BEIJING, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- China lost to world champion Switzerland 7-5 in the second round robin session of women's team curling at Beijing 2022 here on Thursday evening.

This is their second loss after being edged by Denmark 7-6 in the morning session, and the second straight win for the Swiss, who edged Britain 6-5 with an extra end in the National Aquatics Center.

Skipped by 21-year-old Han Yu, the new roster of China has never competed in any international events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the third Wang Rui is the only experienced Olympian. Switzerland, on the other hand, sent their world championship winning squad to fight for maiden Olympic gold.

China managed to level the match in the following end each time Switzerland took the lead, and the game was tied at 5-5 after the eighth end.

Switzerland went ahead again 6-5 with a hit and stay by Alina Patz and finally capitalized on the miss of Han's last shoot in the 10th end to seal the 7-5 win.

"Our team performed nicely, and it's my fault leading to the failure. I just focused on route and strength but forgot some basic things," said Han, whose penultimate draw was removed for a hog line violation.

Despite the disappointment, Han was still positive. "We know we are facing the world's top teams, and our goal is to push ourselves."

On the same day, world bronze medalist the United States beat Denmark 7-5 in the evening session for their second win after smashing the Russian Olympic Committee 9-3.

The Canadian team, spearhead by 47-year-old skip Jennifer Jones, overrode PyeongChang silver medalist South Korea 12-7 in the evening for their opening victory.

In other matches of the day, defending champion Sweden conceded before the eighth end in an 8-2 loss to Britain after beating Japan 8-5.