China secure play-off place at Women's Curling World Championship

World
Europe

Even though China lost their final round-robin match to Japan 6-4, the Chinese women's team finished fifth in the standings to secure a spot in the playoffs of the ongoing Women's Curling World Championship in Denmark on Friday.

Both the Asian teams had a chance to finish in the top six as they took on each other to close the 13-rink round robin. They were tied at 1-1 after the first four ends.

In the fifth, China's second curler Yao Mingyue pushed her effort too far right. The stone hit nothing as it slid through the house.

Japan's number four, Ikue Kita-zawa, then played a draw shot with the hammer, giving her side a 3-1 lead.

It was 6-2 in the ninth before Wang Rui's double take-out cut it to 6-4.

The fourth Chinese curler then tried to get Mei Jie's rink closer in the 10th, but Wang ran out of stones. The 6-4 result left the China fifth and Japan sixth.

"In this contest, we had some problems executing our tactics, and our rivals took advantage of their chances. We will examine this result closely, but we also need to forget about our loss and focus on winning in the playoffs," said Chinese second curler Yao Mingyue.

All six qualifying spots have been filled for the knockout phases at the Women's Curling World Championship as China, Japan and Switzerland booked their places together with S. Korea, Sweden and Russia.

China will face Switzerland to open the playoffs on Saturday.