Sochi, Russia – It took all the way to an extra end, but China lost their 100% record when they were beaten 6-5 by Sweden in Wednesday morning's seventh session of men's round-robin play in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games curling competition at the Ice Cube Curling Centre in Sochi, Russia.
This result means that Sweden now top the table on five wins and one loss while China join Great Britain, who sat out the session, on a 4-1 record.
In the other games in this session, Canada also moved onto four wins, but with one more loss than China and the British. They defeated Norway 10-4, while USA recorded their second win of the week, beating Germany 8-5, a result that leaves the Germans without a win so far.
In the table-topping clash between world champions Sweden and China, the Chinese took the early lead, scoring two points in the second end after blanking the first end.
With the score 5-4 to Sweden going into the tenth end, China all but had the game won after some good set up play left them with two counting stones with only one stone to play each.
However, Sweden skip Niklas Edin made a double take out with his last stone to clear two Chinese stones. This left China skip Rui Liu with only a draw into the house to score one point and put the game into an extra end with the score tied at 5-5.
China did not have last stone in that end and Sweden took the win when Edin drew his last stone into the house to score one point for 6-5.
Afterwards Sweden skip Niklas Edin said: "I'm mostly just relieved. We played a pretty good game, but they didn't miss anything for the first five or six ends. We played a bit safe but had a perfect second half of the game - not so perfect in the first half."
He continued: "They are absolutely the best team we've played so far, and if they keep this going they will be right up there and touching one of those medals. China are playing at their peak right now and we needed some breaks to win this game."
Asked what the most important moment in the game was for him, he said: "Probably the double in the tenth was the most important shot for us to get the extra end. In the extra end they made every shot as well and we barely made it."
The key to USA's win over Germany was the third end, when US skip John Shuster removed a hidden German stone with a delicate hit and roll shot to set up a score of four points for a 4-1 lead.
A further four points in the seventh end were enough for USA to stay ahead, despite the Germans scoring single points in each of the ninth and tenth ends as they strived to get back into the game. These efforts were not enough and USA won by 8-5.
After the game USA skip John Shuster said: "We put together a couple of really good ends in that game, any time you put a big number on the board it helps." He added: "We're at two and three, so we're not that far away from the mix."
The third game of this session between Canada and Norway was a re-run of the nations that contested the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games final four years ago.
This game started as a close affair, with Canada leading by a single point at the halfway mark, at 3-2.
Norway levelled the score at 3-3 when they scored one point in the sixth end, but in the seventh end, Canadian skip Brad Jacobs played a controlled weight double take-out to score four points and take a 7-3 lead.
Norway scored one point in the eighth end and when the Canadians scored a further three points in the ninth end for a 10-4 lead, Norway conceded without playing the last end.
When he came off this ice, Canada skip Brad Jacobs said: "The beginning of the game was a little frustrating, but we just stuck with it. We had a nice deuce in the fourth and we were off to the races after that, and obviously we had the big four. We were fortunate on that one. The three at the end was a bonus, once again it was a really good end and we got a break - their stone just over-curled. Norway are a great team, so that was a huge win for us."
Denmark, Great Britain, Russia and Switzerland all sat out this session.
RESULTS
Men Session 7: Sweden 6, China 5; USA 8 Germany 5; Canada 10, Norway 4. (bye - Denmark, Great Britain, Russia and Switzerland)
STANDINGS
Men’s standings after 7 sessions:
1. Sweden 5-1
2. China 4-1
2. Great Britain 4-1
4. Canada 4-2
5. Norway 3-2
6. Denmark 2-3
6. USA 2-3
8. Russia 1-4
8. Switzerland 1-4
10. Germany 0-5
For more onsite curling information from Sochi, contact Joanna Kelly & Danny Parker at media@worldcurling.org, or at +372 592 442 35.
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