China and the United States will play a tie-breaker to
determine the fourth men's semifinalist at the Winter Games
curling today.
Both teams won their final two games at the Maniototo Ice
Rink at Naseby to finish fourth equal after the round-robin
competition.
China, the pre-event favourite to win the gold medal, has
already qualified for next year's Winter Olympics in Canada
and was not expected to struggle in the round-robin phase.
But the team has struggled and lost to Japan 8-7, Korea 5-4
and Canada 7-6 in the first five rounds.
Needing wins in the last two rounds to remain alive, it beat
New Zealand 8-4 in round six and Australia 6-4 in the final
round yesterday.
The Australian clash was tight, with China leading narrowly
3-2 after five ends.
A two on the seventh end gave China a two-point cushion at
5-3 before the last two ends.
China led 5-4 before the last end and had the advantage of
the last rock, which it used to add a point to win the game.
Daniel Rafael, the China coach, wanted his team to face
pressure curling before the Olympics, and he has got his
wish.
China beat the US 8-4 in the first round and will be favoured
to win this morning's tie-breaker.
But it cannot take a semifinal spot for granted because the
US has finished strongly and beat the Czech Republic 8-6 and
Korea 9-5 in the last two rounds.
Korea, the front-runner for the first five rounds, slipped
off the pace in the last two days to finish second-equal with
Australia in the men's round-robin.
The teams will face each other in the semifinals.
Korea was beaten by top qualifier Japan 8-4 in round six and
by the US in a surprise result yesterday.
The game was even at 4-4 after five of the nine ends but the
US nailed the win by scoring a two on the seventh end and
three on the ninth.
The final round-robin placings were: Japan, Korea and
Australia, China and the US, New Zealand, Czech Republic and
Canada.
It was a disappointing performance by the New Zealand team,
which won just two games on its home patch, against the Czech
Republic 7-6 and Canada 6-5.
New Zealand advanced to the women's semifinals when it beat
Australia 10-5 to gain its second win over its transtasman
opponent.
China finished top qualifier with a commanding 12-2 win over
Japan.
China led 8-0 after three ends and added a three and a one on
the fifth and sixth ends to finish the game.
In today's semifinals, China will play New Zealand and Japan
will face Korea.
The men's tie-breaker between China and the US starts at 8am.
The semifinals will start at 11.45pm and 3pm.
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