Winter Olympics: Team GB curling pair lose to unbeaten leaders Italy

Team GB's curling mixed doubles pair were edged out 7-5 by unbeaten leaders Italy in a closely-fought match at the Winter Olympics.

Having won four and lost one of their games so far, victory would have taken Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds within touching distance of a semi-final spot.

But Italy's score of three in the penultimate end proved decisive and makes the British pair's task harder.

They face China (01:05 GMT) and Norway (12:05) on Sunday in two crucial ties.

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Dodds and Mouat - the current world champions in mixed doubles - are still in a good position to qualify for the next phase as they sit third in the standings with three round-robin matches left.

"We're pretty happy with how we're doing," Mouat said. "We're disappointed not to win that one as it would have been a really solid position.

"But the fact we've beaten a lot of tough teams out there already is going to stand us in good stead.

"Going into another two-game day tomorrow [Sunday] it's almost must-win now. But excited to get going and see what we can do."

Britain got an early steal in the third end after Stefania Constantini made a rare error, but the Italian swiftly recovered with a good chip with the last shot of the next to take two and a 3-2 advantage.

Further good Italian play left Dodds with a tough final shot and she failed to remove stones as Italy stole one in the fifth end.

Trailing by two, Britain used their powerplay to open the game up.

It drew a mistake from Amos Mosaner, which eventually allowed Dodds to knock out an Italian stone to level the game at 4-4 with two ends left.

Then it was the Italians' turn to opt for the powerplay, and Constantini expertly squeezed her shot past the guard to knock out Britain's scoring stone and clinch three points and ultimately victory.

Defeat for Britain followed a commanding 8-3 victory against the Czech Republic earlier on Saturday.