Italy beats China in Olympic mixed doubles curling for 7th straight win

BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The undefeated Italian duo of Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner beat hosts China 8-4 in the 11th round-robin session for their seventh straight victory in the mixed doubles curling at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games here Sunday afternoon.

At the National Aquatics Center, China's pair of Ling Zhi and Fan Suyuan started in style before an amazing shot by Constantini knocked out their counting stone in the button, giving the Italians a 3-point in the opening end.

With sound defense, Italy capitalized on their opponents' miss for another point in the second, taking a 4-0 lead into the break.

In the third end, Italy's last draw slid through the house, and China swapped one point, reducing the former's lead to 4-1. With some good shots in the fourth end, the newly-formed Chinese team failed to score and was down 5-1 in the first half.

To reduce the gap, China called a power-play in the beginning of the second half, swallowing three points by capitalizing on Mosaner's misses, and went into the sixth end break 5-4 down. But the Italian duo took one point in each of the following three ends to secure the win.

"I think we didn't play well today because our opponents put great pressure on us by complicating the situation. We tried to get some chances, but they didn't leave any good positions for us," said Fan afterwards. "We will move on and try our best in the next competition."

Asked whether they could maintain Italy's undefeated record, Constantini said, "Oh, yes. At the moment we are. We have won all games, but for us it's important to keep focus and keep doing what we are doing."