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BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The host team China suffered a poor start to the World Women's Curling Championships 2017, losing 9-3 to world No. 2 Canada at the Capital Stadium here on Saturday.
Canada opened the scoring with four points in the second end when their skip Rachel Homan made a great shot for a double takeout.
"I think I really make some great shots in the second end, otherwise we cannot earned four points," said Homan after the match.
China won their first point in the fifth end after Canada took one more in the fourth. Although the hosts stole one point in the eighth end to narrow the gap to 6-3, the ninth end sealed the deal for Canada when their final stone won three points to put them 9-3 ahead. China then decided to give up the last end.
Despite a bitter defeat, the Chinese team were satisfied with their performance.
"Our team played well today, only made some small mistakes in the second end and gave the opponents' some chances. They seized the opportunities and took a command of the game," said Tan Weidong, the coach of Chinese team.
For the 33-year-old Chinese skip Wang Bingyu, it was her first World Championships in three years. The 2009 World Championships winner said that she doesn't care much about the results now.
"Our team has just trained together for about half a year, all the teams here are tough opponents. We have to accumulate experience through the competition. For myself, I'm not so concerned about the results now," said the Wang.
In other matches of the first round, three-time defending champions Switzerland beat Germany 7-5, Sweden defeated Italy 7-4, and the United States edged Scotland 9-8.
A total of 12 teams are competing in the World Women's Curling Championships, which serves as a qualifier for next year's PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Seven teams that have the most qualification points from the 2016 and 2017 World Championships will directly qualify for the Olympic curling tournament. Teams which played in any of the four previous World Championships are eligible to vie for the two other Olympic slots at the Olympic Qualification Event to be held in Pilsen, the Czech Republic.
Since China didn't play the World Championships in 2016, they need to strive for a high position this year to avoid flying to Pilsen.
