体坛英语新闻：Chinese women curlers drop world championship opener to Swiss

LETHBRIDGE, Canada, March 17 (Xinhua) -- China got off to a tough start in its opening game at the Women's World Curling Championship in Alberta, Canada on Saturday, losing to Switzerland 7-5.

In a rematch of their 2010 Vancouver Winter Games bronze medal game, veteran Swiss skipper Mirjam Ott avenged her Olympic loss and scored two points in both the fourth and fifth ends to put her rink up 5-1 and never looked back.

Chinese skipper Wang Bingyu, the 2009 world champion, was playing catch-up from the start in the evening game at Enmax Center. The Harbin native managed to get her rink back within contention with two points in the sixth end to get to 5-3, but Ott put it away with a single in the eighth end for what turned out to be the winning point.

Wang, who led China to a bronze medal at last year's championship in Denmark, scored two in the ninth end to make it 6-5, but it was close as her team would get. The Swiss closed with a single in the 10th end for some insurance and the win.

"We have a chance, but I think we just go in a little bit slowly," Wang said. "They (the Swiss) played well. I felt that after six ends the skip Ott was (throwing) 90 per cent."

The 40-year-old Ott, making her sixth appearance in the world championship for the Swiss, said the team felt "very comfortable" in opening the tournament in earning a win.

"The team played very well so you're really happy about it," she said. "Every game is tough here. I think there is a lot of good teams, so we knew China, knew that they're a really good team, so that we knew that we have to play good."

Sunday promises to be even tougher for China as it meets the host Canadians in an afternoon game, followed by an evening meeting with the United States. Canada, a pre-tournament favorite, beat the U.S. 8-7 in its opener.

"I think tonight's game a little bit nervous for us, so that's the first game. Tomorrow we will be much better, just enjoy it like a normal game," Wang said. "Canada is always a tough game, but we don' t know too much about American team."

In the championship's opening games in the afternoon, Scotland, another pre-tournament favorite, edged Russia 8-7 after scoring a single point in the last end, while defending champion Sweden easily got by Italy 9-3. The Czech Republic won 6-3 over South Korea.

Germany beat Denmark 6-3 with Canadian-born Melanie Robillard at the helm. After Andrea Schoepp, the 2010 world champion, broke her leg skiing a week ago, the call was put into Robillard, whose mother was born in Germany, to fill in. Robillard, who currently works in Madrid, Spain, convinced her bosses to let her go and was back in Canada on Monday. She previously played for the Germans starting in 2008 and was on the 2010 championship team as Schoepp's third.

In the evening session, South Korea stunned Sweden 9-8 with three points in the 10th end, while the Czechs won their second game of the day 8-5 over Italy.