体坛英语新闻：Norway secure playoff spot at 2014 World Men's Curling Championships

BEIJING, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Known for their fashionable and colorful pants, the in-form Norwegian team collected two more victories at the 2014 World Men's Curling Championships here on Wednesday to secure a berth in the playoff stage with still two games in hand.

Skipped by the seasoned Thomas Ulsrud, Norway finished fifth in Sochi after losing the tiebreaker to Britain and missing the playoffs. They retained their Olympic squad in the annual tournament held in Beijing's Capital Gymnasium and have been enjoying a successful week with five straight wins before conceding the first loss to Germany on Tuesday afternoon.

After trouncing the reigning Olympic champs Canada 9-5 last night, Norway resumed their winning rhythm as they outscored Scotland 6-4 in Wednesday's morning session and went on to overwhelm Russia 11-2 with only 6 ends in the evening.

"It's good feeling. The boys on the team played very well. I only played the easy shots, the last shot. The three guys in front of me are playing great," said the 42-year-old Ulsrud, whose team won the silver at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

"I'm glad we are playing well here. We want to be world champions," Ulsrud added.

Ulsrud's team are leading the 12-team round-robin stage with eight wins and one defeat and have already clinched a playoff spot. But they still need to try to win the games against the United States and Switzerland in order to gain a top two finish in front of the page playoff system.

The last time Norway claimed the title of the men's World Championships was in 1988 when they beat Canada in the final in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The hosts China also grabbed two wins on Wednesday after beating Denmark 6-4 and easing past United States 8-4. However, with five wins and four defeats to rank fifth in the standings, their playoff hope remains slim even if they could win the last two games on Thursday.

"If we lose one more game we are out. If we win and the right things happen, the right team loses, maybe we will have a chance. But right now we just try to play one game after another and try to get victory," said China's head coach Marcel Rocque.

"We are not worried about the results because it may happen or may not. We may need help from the other teams. It was too far away," the Canadian added.

China will take on reigning champions Sweden, who were also 5-4, and the stunningly second-ranked Japan with a record of 7-2 on Thursday. Canada and Switzerland are joint third placers with both 6 wins and 3 defeats.