China crush Norway in WCF Men's World Curling Championship

In a stunning upset, the Chinese men's curling team notched up a magnificent 8-3 victory over a fancied Norway at the ongoing World Curling Federation (WCF) World Championship in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada on Thursday.

After a series of lackluster performances in the tournament and with just only one win in their past eight matches, China were up against an inconsistent Norwegian side that wasn't doing well in the tournament in Western Canada.

Zou Qiang's rink were hoping to grab their second win in nine matches as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first couple of ends. But the Chinese were unable to add to their tally in the third when Norway held the hammer.

Zou and the Chinese squad had another chance to build on their edge in the fourth, however, the skip's final throw didn't need much assistance to make it into the house.

That successful effort increased his quartet's lead to 3-1 before the Norwegians pulled a point back in the fifth to trim the deficit back down to one.

The third man in the PRC's line-up, Ba Daxin, then executed a takeout that helped secure two points in the sixth, making it 5-2.

Zou then followed up with a nice takeout of his own in the eighth to score two more, before adding another point in the ninth as China went on to defeat Norway by a handsome margin.

Later, the victorious China team took on Scotland in another game. Zou and his men tried to build on their momentum against the Scots as the skip's effort in the second end made it to the button to tie the contest at 2-2.

Then, in the fourth end, Zou used a raised takeout to level things again at 3-3.

Scotland, however, continued to press and held a 5-4 lead going into the ninth. But China had the hammer and Zou's final throw swept into the house with precision, as his stone found the sweet spot to make it 6-4.

The PRC's jubilation didn't last long, though, as the Scots later took full advantage of the hammer by scoring four in the 10th and going on to grab a 9-6 win.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)