The Beijing Winter Olympics continue, and according to the schedule, the curling men's round robin tournament will be held on February 9. Among them, the Chinese team will face the Swedish team, which is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, when CCTV16 will conduct a full video broadcast. Details are as follows:
What is the schedule of the Men's Curling Round Robin tournament at the Winter Olympics?
According to the official website of the Beijing Winter Olympics, at 8:05 p.m. on February 9, the first round of the curling men's round robin tournament officially began. The matches were: China, currently ranked 14th in the world, vs. Sweden, which is currently ranked No. 1 in the world; The Russian Olympic Committee, which is currently ranked No. 10 in the world, vs. the United States, which is currently ranked No. 4 in the world.
Norway, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, vs. Norway, currently ranked No. 7 in the world; Canada, currently ranked No. 3 in the world, vs. Danish, currently ranked No. 12 in the world. After checking the CCTV Sports Channel, it can be seen that the CCTV16 (Olympic) channel will conduct a full live video broadcast, and interested curling fans will remember to watch it on time.
How do you see the match between the Chinese team and the world's No. 1 Sweden team?
Objectively speaking, it is difficult for the Chinese team to defeat the powerful Swedish team. There are two main reasons: First, the disparity in strength between the two sides. In terms of world rankings alone, Sweden dominated with 93.249, 13 places ahead of the Chinese team. In addition, in the 2021 World Men's Curling Championship, the Chinese team only achieved 2 wins and 11 losses and ranked at the bottom. The Swedish team, on the other hand, advanced all the way to the top and finally stood on the highest podium. Among them, the Chinese team lost 3-5 in the match against sweden.
Second, the Swedish team's experience in the competition is far stronger than that of the Chinese team. In the curling competition at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Sweden won a silver medal while the Chinese team was not eligible to participate; at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Sweden defeated the Chinese team 6-5 and reached the semi-finals, while the Chinese team stopped the round robin. There is no doubt that compared with the Chinese team, the Swedish team is a traditional strong team.
Of course, curling is arc-shaped, and the Swedish team, while strong, is by no means invincible. Compared with the Swedish team that plays away, the biggest advantage of the Chinese team is to play at home. As the saying goes, the two sides of the game, the emphasis is on "the time and place and the people". Although the Chinese team is inferior to the Swedish team in terms of "people" (player strength), it is far superior to the opponent in terms of "time and time" and "geographical advantage" (favorable environment such as venues). Therefore, as long as the young men of the Chinese team do not abandon and do not give up, they can still fight!
In fact, whether the Chinese team can beat the Swedish team or not, the most important thing is to learn valuable experience from the opponent, which is something that cannot be obtained in any training. Finally, I hope that China's Ma Xiuyue (1991, fourth base), Zou Qiang (1991, third base), Wang Zhiyu (1996, second base), Xu Jingtao (1993, first base) and Jiang Dongxu (1993, substitute), can play light, regardless of gains and losses, regardless of success or failure, and play at a normal level!
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