China's men's team edge past Sweden at Curling World Cup

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On Day 1 for the men's side of the Curling World Cup Grand Final, China's Team Zou Qian edged past reigning world champions Team Niklas Edin of Sweden 7-6 at the Beijing 2022 Ice Hockey arena.

With Xu Jingtao, Wang Zhiyu and Ba Dexin, Team Zou came up from behind by the two-pointer, winning in the eighth round to grab the first victory in Group A.

The Chinese men's team are part of the "Death Group" competing against the 2019 World Men's Curling Championship winners Team Edin of Sweden, PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games winners Team Shuster of the U.S., and the 2018-19 Curling World Cup Third Leg winners Team Dunstone of Canada.

There are only two groups at the Grand Final. Group B consists of Team Paterson of Scotland, Team Schwaller of Switzerland, Team Koe of Canada and Team Ulsrud of Norway.

Yannick Schwaller's men of Switzerland beat Canada's Kevin Koe 6-2, while Team John Shuster defeated Team Matt Dunstone in the battle of North America. Team Ross Paterson of Scotland won over Team Thomas Ulsrud of Norway.

Team Jiang Yilun of China competed in the women's curling match during the 2018-19 Curling World Cup Grand Final first round at Beijing Shougang Ice Hockey Stadium, Beijing, May 8, 2019. /VCG Photo

On the women's side, Canada's Team Jones, China's Team Jiang, Japan's Team Fujisawa and the U.S.' Team Roth are in Group A. South Korea's Team Kim, Switzerland's Team Tirinzoni, Russia's Team Sidorova and Sweden's Team Hasselborg are in Group B.

Home fans got a great show as China, led by team skip Jiang Yilun, put up a very strong and consistent performance, storming to a 6-1 lead by the fourth end, and finally winning the whole game 9-2, with the American team retiring after the 7th end.

For the mixed side, China's Yuan Mingjie and Cao Chang are grouped with Canada's Walker/Muyres, the U.S.' Anderson/Dropkin, and Switzerland's Jaeggi/Michel in Group A. In Group B, there are Norway's Skaslien/Nedregotten, Russia's Komarova/Goriachev, Canada's Sahaidak/Lott and Switzerland's Perret/Rios.

China's duo has been paired for just five months for the event, and didn't perform well as they lost to Canada's side 3-7.

None of the teams that won big in the first session can rest, however. The round robin format means that teams can and do ease into form over the course of the five-day competition, and Thursday's matchups will provide different challenges entirely for each team.

(With input from Xinhua News Agency)