China concedes 3rd straight loss in Olympic women's team curling

BEIJING - China suffered its third consecutive loss after falling to the United States 8-4 in the third round robin session of the women's team curling at Beijing 2022 here on Friday afternoon.

Skipped by 21-year-old Han Yu, China was overwhelmed by the United States 5-1 after five ends, and the gap was expanded to 6-1 in the sixth end due to Han's miss in drawing the last stone.

Han could have won two points by playing a simple double takeout, but she attempted to score three, which was missed and gave a steal of one point to the United States.

China scored two points with the hammer in the seventh end, but the Americans pocketed two more points in the eighth for an 8-3 lead en route to their third straight victory.

Han confessed to the team's unstable performance in the game. "This is the key problem for rookies. The ice was rougher than yesterday, but we failed to read it in the first end, which had some impact on my success percentage in the following ends."

"I'm learning lessons from each competition and growing. In the following six matches, we will try to be better regardless of our opponents."

Canada, skipped by legend Jennifer Jones, was smashed 8-5 by the PyeongChang bronze medalist Japan on the next sheet, and conceded before the last end.

"We didn't make enough shots early in the game, and then kind of had to fight our way back in it. Unfortunately, we didn't do that," said the 47-year-old Jones.

"Definitely we are disappointed about the loss, but it's still really early in the round robin, and I know we'll come out sharp for tomorrow."

Other action saw world champion Switzerland edged the Russian Olympic Committee 8-7, and South Korea beat Britain 9-7.