Chinese rookies beat Italy in Olympic men's team curling for 2nd win

BEIJING - China beat Italy 12-9 in the fifth round robin session for its second victory in the men's team curling at Beijing 2022 here Saturday afternoon.

At the National Aquatics Center, China recorded its first victory, a 5-4 win over Denmark on Friday.

Against the more experienced Italian, who placed third at the 2021 European Curling Championships, the Chinese Olympic debutants led 2-0 in the first end, when skip Ma Xiuyue played a raise.

After Italy won one point with the hammer in the second end, Ma scored three points in the third through a double takeout and 100 percent success rate, putting China up 5-1.

Italy swallowed three points in the fourth end, reducing China's lead to 5-4, before China rushed ahead with their three points to overwhelm Italy 8-4 in the first half.

With the hammer, Italy scored two points in the sixth end, and stole another point in the seventh, reducing their deficit to 8-7.

Thanks to good shots by the third Zou Qiang, and Ma's decisive double takeout, China made another three for a comfortable 11-7 lead in the eighth, and sealed the victory with stable performance during the last two ends.

"The advantage in the beginning gave me confidence, which was a great help for me to perform stably," said 30-year-old Ma. "We need to move on and keep things in frame in the following games."

The other sheet saw tense competition between traditional powerhouse Canada, skipped by star Brad Gushue, and defending world champion Sweden spearheaded by Niklas Edin, an unprecedented five-time world champion.

Edin chose to blank the first end, and scored one point in the second with hammer, taking the lead 1-0.

On his turn, Gushue was forced to blank the third end after he failed in his attempt to score two points, then gave a steal of one point to Sweden in the fourth, down by 2-0.

Canada caught up with a stable performance in the fifth end, and a double takeout by Gushue won them two points to tie the game 2-2, but the lead was taken by Edin's rink again 4-2 in the sixth end.

Sweden then stole one more point despite Gushue's triple takeout in the seventh end, up by 5-2. After Canada got two points in the eighth reducing the lead to 5-4, Sweden scored two more points in the following two ends to take the game 7-4, which made them the only undefeated team so far.

"It was a tough game out there, but it felt we had the upper hand most of the way. We're really happy we got away with a win," said Edin.

"We're going to be super hungry, super focused, super motivated for each game. If we get a loss or two, then it starts building up the pressure, and it can be a tough road to the playoffs. We've got to keep fighting out there and getting the wins," Edin added.

In other matches of the day, Denmark lost to Switzerland 8-6 for its fourth straight defeat, while defending Olympic champion the United States was edged by Norway 7-6.