Japan’s curling team beats China for 4th win in row

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:47 JST, February 14, 2022

BEIJING — The women of Japan’s curling team continued their hot play on ice, overwhelming hosts China 10-2 on Monday morning for their fourth consecutive win at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The Japan team, consisting of players from the Hokkaido club team Loco Solare, is ranked seventh in the world and improved to 4-1 in the nine-match round-robin stage. The top four teams qualify for the semifinals.

China took the first point in the match in the second end, when Japan skip Satsuki Fujisawa’s last stone failed to remove China’s from the center of the target. But the third end turned in Loco Solare’s favor, as errors from China helped Japan take three big points.

The fourth end started well and Japan recorded a point. In the fifth end, Japan took another three points, before conceding a point in the sixth end.

With two more points in the seventh and one in the eighth end, Japan had a commanding eight-point lead with only two ends remaining, so China conceded the match.

China fell to 2-4. Japan is set to face 2-3 South Korea on Monday night.

On Saturday, Japan took down the winless Russian Olympic Committee 10-5. The ROC had a 5-2 lead through the sixth end, but surrendered three big points in the seventh as Japan evened the score and cruised from there.