China keeps semifinal hope alive in Olympic women's team curling

Dong Ziqi (C), Jiang Xindi (L) and Zhang Lijun of China compete during the Curling Women's Round Robin Session 11 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics against Canada at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing on Feb. 16, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Xu)

Chinese women's curling team keep alive their hopes of reaching the semifinals at Beijing 2022.

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- China kept their hope of reaching the last four alive in the women's team curling through their 11-9 victory over Canada and 8-4 win over Britain at Beijing 2022 here on Wednesday.

China, who won over the Britons in the morning, managed a steal of three points in the first two ends of the evening match against Canada, as skip Jennifer Jones only registered a success rate of 19 percent.

The Canadians tied the game 3-3 in the fourth end, but China retook a 5-3 lead before the second half.

The sixth end saw a twisted situation when Canada swallowed five points with sound build-up and good shots to move ahead 8-5, but China leveled the game again in the eighth end.

Canada scored one point in the ninth end, leaving hammer for China in the tenth, where China scored one point to force an extra end.

Capitalizing on Jones' miss in her final shot, China sealed their fourth victory with two more points.

"It probably wasn't our very best game, a little bit disappointed, but was a fun game to play," said Jones. "They're very talented curlers and great. They made a lot of good shots."

"It's our last round robin, so we decided to play our best and enjoy ourselves. If we could have played like this in previous games, I think things will be much better for us. We are learning lessons from all games," said Chinese skip Wang Rui.

Jiang Xindi (L) and Zhang Lijun of China compete during the Curling Women's Round Robin Session 11 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics against Canada at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing on Feb. 16, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Xu)

Also in the 11th round robin session, South Korea edged Denmark 8-7, Japan overrode the United States 10-7, and Sweden beat the Russian Olympic Committee 8-5.

In morning's 10th session, Canada beat the U.S. 7-6, and reigning world champion Switzerland smashed PyeongChang 2018 runner-up South Korea 8-4.

On the men's side, China edged Switzerland 6-5 in their last Olympic game. With four wins and five losses, China has no chance of advancing to the semifinals.

Wang Zhiyu, Zou Qiang, Xu Jingtao (L to R) of China compete during the curling men's round robin session 11 of Beijing Winter Olympics against Switzerland at National Aquatics Center in Beijing on Feb. 16, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)

China's skip Ma Xiuyue remained upbeat despite the team losing the chance to reach the last four. "I have a long-term plan for my career as a curler. This is only my first Olympics, and everything has just begun," said the 31-year-old.

In other actions, Britain topped the ROC 8-6, and Italy overrode Denmark 10-3.

Both with a win-loss record of 7-1, Britain and Sweden have secured their berths in the semifinals.