China

China lead men's curling

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-01-30 08:37

CHANGCHUN, Northeast China - China curling team won two straight matches to lead while Japan held the top position of the women's standings at the sixth Asian Winter Games here on Monday.

China, bronze medalists at the last edition of the Winter Asiad in Aomori, Japan, trounced Kazakhstan, which were making their debut at Winter Asiad, by 10-1 in the first round match before upsetting Japan 8-2 in the second round.

"We felt no pressure today," said Wang Binjiang, captain of the Chinese team. "The Japanese are a little bit nervous. I guess that is because they were the runners-up four years ago."

However, Japan beat the reigning champions South Korea 9-5 earlier in the morning.

In the women's event, Japan, the titlists in Aomori, beat China 8-2 in the second round after edging South Korea 7-5 in the first.

"My players were too aggressive, thus they made a few mistakes, " said China's coach Tan Weidong after their loss. "We were lagging behind by six points after seven games, which was a big gap, so we just gave up the final three."

The curling tournament of the 6th Asian Winter Games runs from January 29 to February 1 and adopts a format of double round-robin.