Beijing 2022 Olympics – Curling – Round Robin Session 9 for Men – Canada vs. China – National Aquatics Center, Beijing, China – February 15, 2022. Skip Brad Gushue of Canada, Brett Gallant of Canada, Geoff Walker of Canada and vice Mark Nichols from Canada celebrates after winning his match. REUTERS / Evelyn Hockstein

BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Reuters) – Bruce Mouat’s UK broke already qualified Sweden’s perfect record on Tuesday to secure their place in the men’s curling semi-finals while Canada’s loss to the ROC meant they needed a win in their final round-robin match to make it the playoffs.

Great Britain, who beat Niklas Edins Sweden in December to take the European crown, made a statement 7-6 win over the triple world champions at the National Aquatics Center to get into second place in the table.

“It’s huge to secure the playoff spot – and to play Niklas too,” said Britain’s third baseman Grant Hardie.

“It’s always a match we’re looking forward to and it was really tough. But we were able to do one of our best performances so far.”

Canada, in fourth place, will aim to qualify for the last four by beating Great Britain in their final round-robin competition on Wednesday after going down to an extra 7-6 defeat by the Russian Olympic Committee.

“It’s a disappointing match. We gave up so many opportunities,” said Brad Gushue of Canada.

“We will rest, cheer on the one we need to cheer on to see if it can go our way. But our fate is still in our own hands.”

The reigning champions USA also suffered a setback in their hopes of reaching the top four and lost 10-4 against Italy, which had already been eliminated. The hosts China beat Norway 8-6 in the match this evening.

In the women’s competition, the world champions Switzerland survived a scare to register a narrow victory with 9-6 against the USA, and scored a decisive four points in the ninth end before adding another in the 10th to seal the result.

Reigning champions Sweden delivered a strong performance against Denmark to win 9-3 and Great Britain took a much-needed 10-4 win over Japan to increase their playoff chances, while ROC beat China 11-5 for its first victory in Beijing.

The teams play nine matches in the preliminary round, where the top four reach the semifinals.

Reporting by Hritika Sharma; Edited by Robert Birsel and Kevin Liffey

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