Bruce Mouat guides GB men to curling semifinals with victory over Sweden
Bruce Mouat has guaranteed his second stroke at an Olympic medal after he led his British men’s team in curling to a tight 7-6 win over reigning world champion Sweden at the Beijing Aquatics Center.
Mouat, who missed a mixed medal alongside Jennifer Dodds earlier in the games, can make it into the final two matches of the round-robin section confident in the knowledge that his team has done enough to reach the last four.
Mouat’s men took advantage of a cool start, where they went up 3-0 after the first two finishes, but had to resist a late fightback to ignore their experienced opponents.
It gave the Swedes, who beat Mouat’s men to lift the world crown last year, their first defeat in the round-robin phase, although Niklas Edin’s men have also guaranteed their departure to the semifinals.
“It was a really important win,” Mouat said on the Team GB website. “We knew we were close to getting a qualifying spot, so it feels great to get this.
“We just wanted to come out and secure it before two tough matches against Russia and China and beating a team like Sweden in the round will give us a big mental advantage.
“We just need to keep the winning streak going now.”
Eve Muirhead kept her hopes of a second Olympic medal alive after leading her women’s team to an emphatic 10-4 victory over Japan.
Muirhead entered the match knowing that victory was crucial to maintaining their semi-final ambitions after a frustrating defeat to Canada on Monday left them away from the top four.
But once again, her team showed resilience in adversity to force a Japanese concession with two ends left, and prepared them nicely for yet another decisive settlement on Wednesday with hosts China.
“We knew it was a very important match for us today and we came out with a lot of fire,” said Muirhead, who won bronze in Sochi in 2014. “We had a fantastic chat after the loss to China and we knew the importance of bouncing back. . “
Muirhead’s team got off to a dream start with a third in the first end and another triple in the third end effectively ended the match as a competition before halfway.
“I think what we did very well was that we did not become complacent,” Muirhead added. “We kept control of every end and every stone and watched the match.
“I think our last two matches will be tough. It’s always much harder when you have the home crowd against you. But we enjoy every minute and work very hard as a team.”