The Canadian Press

Canada drops to 5-1 with loss to China at world women's curling championship

Tue Mar 25, 7:36 PM

By James Bisson, The Canadian Press

VERNON, B.C. - Revenge was sweet for Chinese skip Bingyu Wang - maybe a little too sweet in the eyes of the defeated Canadians.

Wang escaped with a 9-7 win over Canada's Jennifer Jones in Draw 9 action Tuesday at the Ford world women's curling championship. Jones had a chance at the victory but came up heavy on a draw with her final shot before an astonished crowd of 1,318 at the Greater Vernon Multiplex.

The Chinese players let out yelps of excitement, and one of them even tossed her broom in the air. That gesture didn't set well with members of the Jones foursome, which suffered its first loss of the tournament.

"I don't think the broom was necessary," said Canadian third Cathy Overton-Clapham. "But they were quite excited to sweep the rock to win the game, so..."

Canadian second Jill Officer said the Chinese reaction caught her off-guard.

"I was a little bit surprised, to be honest," said Officer. "I felt like I had just lost a final.

"I guess in some way I can understand that teams want to beat Canada, and they did, so they were happy."

The victory provided Wang with some payback after she was routed 11-1 the last time she faced Jones at the 2005 world championship in Paisley, Scotland. That was China's first appearance at curling's marquee event, and Wang's unit has improved drastically since then.

Tuesday's win over Canada (5-1) was the latest in an amazing run for the Chinese (7-0), who followed their morning triumph with a 10-1 victory over Debbie McCormick of the U.S. in Draw 10. China has already surpassed its previous best performance, a 6-5 result at the 2006 world championship in Grande Prairie, Alta.

China gave Canada all sorts of trouble that year, upending Kelly Scott 5-4 in what was considered the upset of the tournament. The Chinese did the same Tuesday, curling a solid game while taking advantage of the few mistakes Canada made.

Wang downplayed the significance of the victory, which evened China's record against Canada at 2-2 in world championship play.

"There are 12 teams in the (tournament)," Wang said. "We need to play 11 teams, and 11 games. This is just one game."

So why the exuberant post-game celebration?

"I think we were so surprised," said Wang, the only skip to represent China at a world championship. "We were so happy because (Canada) had played so well."

As they did in victories Monday over Italy and Russia, the Canadians countered a slow start with a strong finish - but couldn't make the key shot when it mattered most. Jones will try to bounce back later Tuesday against McCormick. (9 p.m. ET).

"It was a fun game to play," said Jones. "I thought we controlled the back half of that game and probably should have won it, but they played well and I just missed my last one."

Wang looked composed at the outset, taking one point with the hammer to open the game and stealing two more in the second. The teams exchanged singles before Wang made a rare gaffe, knocking one of her own stones out of the rings on an attempted hit and roll with her final shot.

That left Jones with an open hit for three - and the two-time Canadian champion made no mistake, evening the score 4-4 heading into the break.

Canada took its first lead when Wang was heavy on a draw to the four-foot, handing Jones a steal of one. Wang had the same draw the next end, and executed it perfectly to score two.

Jones regained the lead with a superb tapback for two in the eighth, drawing a loud cheer from the crowd. She followed with a pivotal takeout with her final shot in the ninth, forcing Wang to draw for a single and setting up the wild 10th end.

Wang had little trouble against McCormick (4-2) in 10th-draw action, taking three with the hammer in the fourth and stealing an additional five points over the next three ends. Wang curled 84 per cent in the victory, compared to just 50 per cent for McCormick.

Elsewhere, Denmark improved to 4-2 with a 7-6 victory over Scotland (1-6), while Japan squared its record at 3-3 with a 10-5 win over Russia (2-5). The other Draw 10 game saw Sweden (3-4) escape with an 8-7 victory over Italy (1-5).

In Draw 9, Switzerland (5-1) earned an 8-4 win over Scotland, Germany (3-3) downed Sweden 8-3 and Russia laid an 11-4 beating on the Czech Republic (0-6).

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