Winter Olympics: GB men's curlers beat Sweden to book semi-final spot; women defeat Japan

By Thomas Duncan
BBC Scotland in Beijing

24th Winter Olympic Games

Hosts: Beijing, China Dates: 4-20 February

Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and online; listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds; live text and highlights on BBC Sport website and mobile app

Great Britain's men's curlers sealed a spot in the Winter Olympics semi-finals with a statement 7-6 win over leaders Sweden, while the women's side beat Japan to maintain their hopes.

Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, and Hammy McMillan got the better of the world champions to claim a sixth win from seven matches.

Earlier, Eve Muirhead's side triumphed 10-4 against Japan in a key game.

It moves them into the top four and in the mix for the semi-finals.

Victories against China and the Russian Olympic Committee in their final two matches should see them through.

Winter Olympics: GB women's curlers beat Japan to keep semi-final hopes alive

Both of those teams are already out of contention for the play-offs, and Muirhead's side face the Chinese first at 01:05 GMT on Wednesday, aiming to improve on their record of four wins and three losses.

The men's team have the Russian Olympic Committee to play on Wednesday (06:05) and Canada the following day as they aim to finish top of the standings.

Mouat's side - who beat Sweden in December to take the European title - are among the favourites for a medal, and this performance underlined their credentials.

The Scottish quartet stole one in the first end and then two in the second for a 3-0 lead as they put Swedish skip Niklas Edin, a five-time world champion, under early pressure and forced errors.

The teams exchanged scores of one in a closely fought match, before Britain struck the crucial blow in the eighth end when Mouat promoted one of his own stones to knock Sweden's from the house and score two for a 7-3 lead.

The previously unbeaten Swedes took two in the penultimate end to set up a nervy finish, but with the hammer Mouat was able to ensure they only took one in the last to halt the comeback.

"That was probably our best performance," Mouat told BBC Sport.

"We came out blocks really well. We put them under pressure [in the] first two ends, got the jump on them and continued from that line of play. I'm really happy with how it went."

Women's team revive hopes

Getty Images

Defeat by Canada in their previous match left Muirhead's side on the brink of an early exit before facing Japan, who beat them to bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018.

But despite starting the day in second place with a record of four wins and two defeats, the Japanese struggled and gave Muirhead the opportunity to take three in the very first end.

The British skip took it decisively, and then delivered another three with the hammer in the third end for a 6-1 lead.

From there, Japan were never likely to come back and conceded after giving up two in the eighth end.

"What we did very well was not get complacent one bit," Muirhead said. "We kept control of every end and every stone and saw the game out.

"I think whoever we've got our last two games against it's going to be tough. I don't think you can get complacent about any game out there. They're all very hard."

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