体坛英语新闻：Hosts China suffer third straight defeat at World Women's Curling Championships

BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Hosts China suffered an embarrassing three-game losing streak at the World Women's Curling Championships 2017, after going down to the Czech Republic 8-7 after an extra end.

The Czech Republic join defending champions Switzerland and Sochi Olympic winners Canada as the only unbeaten teams at the tournament which feature 12 elite teams altogether.

"It's still the beginning of the competition, we need to win more games to be in the top," said the Anna Kubeskova, the skip of the Czechs.

"We're really getting to the game better, it's still a nervous start but everyone is getting used to the ice," she added.

In front of hundreds of enthusiastic home crowds, China fell behind 7-5 after the ninth end. But the Chinese fought back in the tenth, scoring two points to pull the game into the extra end.

"It was a tough game, as our opponents performed very well. I thought we played much better as the game went on," said Liu Jinli, the second player of Chinese team.

Anna Kubeskova scored one point in the extra end with a breathtaking last stone.

South Korea recorded their first vitory in the competition as they beat Italy 7-4 in the evening. Three-time defending champions Switzerland notched an easy win over Denmark, 12-4, extending their winning streak to three games.

Denmark and China are the only two teams which didn't win any game after three rounds.

During the daytime, Canada edged Russia 10-9 in extra end for their third straight victory.

The World Women's Curling Championships serves as a qualifier for next year's PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Seven teams that have the most qualification points from the 2016 and 2017 World Championships will directly qualify for the Olympic curling tournament. Teams which played in any of the four previous World Championships are eligible to vie for the two other Olympic slots at the Olympic Qualification Event to be held in Pilsen, the Czech Republic.