Sochi, Feb 17 (IANS): Defending champion Canada edged China 9-8 to make it to the men’s curling semifinals at the Winter Olympics here.
Sunday’s victory gave Canada a 7-2 win-loss record in the round-robin while China has to beat Britain Monday to secure its place in the last four, reports Xinhua.
China’s skip Liu Rui started the game in ominous form, producing an impressive in-off double for two in the third end, then bettering that play in the fifth end with a full-weight takeout on a frozen Canada shot that gave China three and a 5-3 lead.
Canada went on a five-point run including consecutive stolen ends after the mid-game break to take control of the game and Brad Jacobs was able to take victory with another nerveless draw to the button with his final stone.
“We made a lot of mistakes after mid-game. The opponent is very strong. We felt some pressure after the eighth end which made me make more mistakes,” said Liu.
Canada beat the US 8-6 earlier Sunday.
After beating Britain 7-6 in the morning session, Norway maintained its chance of returning to the podium with a 5-3 victory against Switzerland.
Denmark claimed its third round-robin win with a 6-3 victory over Germany and reigning world champion Sweden beat the US 6-4 after defeating Russia 8-4.
In the women’s round-robin, Denmark beat South Korea 7-4, Japan outclassed Switzerland 9-7, Sweden edged Russia 5-4 and the US lost to Canada 6-7.
