World Curling: Scotland's men second bottom and miss play-offs

Scotland skip Ewan MacDonald has been at three Winter Olympics

Scotland sit second bottom of the round-robin table at the World Men's Curling Championship after their hopes of reaching the play-offs ended.

Ewan MacDonald's rink lost 7-1 to Canada as the hosts clinched their place in the first versus second play-off along with holders Norway.

China then defeated the Scots 10-3 to move above their opponents, who are now sitting in equal ninth place.

MacDonald's rink have three wins from their 10 matches with one game left.

His team - third Duncan Fernie, second Ruairidh Greenwood and lead Euan Byers - face third-placed Sweden in their final game, which starts at 23.30 BST, in Halifax.

MacDonald, 39, is a three-time world champion - playing second for Hammy McMillan in 1999 and third for David Murdoch in 2006 and 2009.

His rink finished ninth at the world championships last season.

However, they defended the Scottish title with a final victory against Murdoch last month, although Murdoch has been filling in as an alternate in Halifax.

There is no relegation from the Word Men's Curling Championships should the Scots finish bottom as qualification comes through the European Championships, which are this year held in November.

While Pat Simmons' Canadians clinched qualification by beating Scotland, Norway's Thomas Ulsrud did likewise with a 12-5 victory over Jiri Snitil's Czech Republic.

Both leaders went on to win their next two matches, with Norway defeating Japan 10-8 and Switzerland 6-4, while the Canadians edged out Japan 6-5 and Italy 7-6, to end their round-robin campaigns with only one defeat each.

Sweden have qualified for the semi-final play-off in third, with Switzerland, Finland and the United States chasing the remaining play-off spots.

Thursday's results

Session 14: Canada 7-1 Scotland; Norway 12-5 Czech Republic; Finland 8-7 China; USA 8-6 Japan.

Session 15: Czech Republic 2-6 USA; Scotland 3-10 China; Norway 10-8 Japan; Finland 5-6 Canada.

Session 16: Sweden 7-6; USA 6-5 Russia; Canada 7-6 Italy; Switzerland 4-6 Norway.

Latest round-robin standings

1. Canada 10-1 (Qualified for Page 1v2 Play-off)

1. Norway 10-1 (Qualified for Page 1v2 Play-off)

3. Sweden 7-3 (Qualified for Page 3v4 Play-off)

4. USA 6-5

5. Finland 5-5

5. Switzerland 5-5

7. Japan 4-6

8. China 4-7

9. Czech Republic 3-7

9. Italy 3-7

9. Scotland 3-7

12. Russia 2-8