China suffers consecutive losses at men's curling worlds

WASHINGTON - China suffered two straight defeats at the world men's curling championship held in Calgary in Canada on Thursday.

China lost to Germany 8-4 in the 19th round and then suffered another defeat losing to Japan 7-6 in the 20th round.

China led Germany 3-2 after the five-end break, but Germany gathered momentum and won three points in the sixth end. After that, Germany never looked back.

In the 20th round, China and Japan played a close match that was tied 3-3 after six ends. China earned one point in the seventh but in eighth Japan responded by taking two points.

China took two points of their own in the ninth end to bring the score to 6-5 in their favor. In the 10th end, Chinese skipper Zou Qiang executed a freeze with his last stone to attempt to neutralize one of two Japanese stones in the house. With last stone advantage, the Japanese skipper Yuta Matsumura took out the Chinese stone, earning two points for a 7-6 win.