The Chinese men's curling team and women's ice hockey team dominated the opening day of the eighth Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan on Saturday. 

China faced Kazakhstan in their first match of the Games in men's curling and had little trouble starting the event with a victory. 

China's men's curling team, the silver medalists at the Asia-Pacific Championships in 2016, cruised to a 12-1 victory. 

In other games, hosts Japan beat Chinese Taipei 11-3, and South Korea smashed Qatar 20-0. 

Trading stones for sticks, the Chinese women's ice hockey team took on Hong Kong on Saturday. 

As expected, the Chinese team in white completely overwhelmed the amateurs from Hong Kong. 

The players registered a whopping 78 shots on goal while the opponents only managed three. 

China found the net repeatedly and eased to a very lopsided 20-0 victory. The next match for the Chinese women's team is against powerhouse Kazakhstan.

The Asian Winter Games – involving more than 2,000 athletes from 31 countries competing in five sports, 11 disciplines and 64 events – is taking place in Sapporo on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido until February 26.