The penultimate curling session in the men’s tournament group stage ended. The Italians achieved a third victory in the Olympics, and the owners of the land defeated the Swiss team with the last stone, and the United Kingdom topped the standings table before the last round of the group stage.
In the most interesting meeting of this session, representatives of China met with the Swiss. The first points in the match, at the second end, were scored by the Helvetians. Successive matches ended with mutual victories from one team to another. Neither team was able to dominate their opponents, and both groups calmly carried out their tactical assumptions. Before the last game, the European team had one advantage. In the decisive end, the Swiss chose the tactic of blocking the path to the rivals’ end zone, while the representatives of the Middle Kingdom immediately placed their stone near the center of the house. Successive blows alternately hit yellow and red stones from the circles. The final push in the match belonged to the tournament hosts and Xiuyue Ma used it perfectly, scoring two points for his team. In this way, China by the last stone overtook the fate of this clash and overcame its rivals at the table.
With the promotion to the next round already guaranteed, Great Britain defeated the representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee in its match. The Brits started the match with a bang and went 3-0 up after the first match. This advantage, with an equal level to the other ends, finally secured them victory in this duel. Italy’s representatives achieved their third victory at the Olympics. They started the match with Denmark with a loss in the first end 0: 2, but from the second round they completely dominated their opponents. The Danes abandoned the match after seven rounds, when they were losing 3:10.
consequences:
China-Switzerland 6:5
UK – Russian Olympic Committee 8:6
Italy – Denmark 10: 3
