Two consecutive wins! The Chinese men's curling team defeated Italy

Beijing, 12 Feb (Xinhua) -- Reporters Tan Chang, Liang Jinxiong and Zhang Yueshan completed 40 hits in the whole game, with a success rate of 85 percent. The Chinese men's curling team opened the way with "play" on the afternoon of the 12th, defeating the 2021 European Championship runner-up Italy team 12:9 to win the second victory at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In the previous matches, the Chinese team won one and lost twice, and the Italian team lost two consecutive games. The Chinese team's first base Xu Jingtao, second base Wang Zhiyu, third base Zou Qiang, fourth base captain Ma Xiuyue, all four of them participated in the Winter Olympics for the first time.

Before the game, the Chinese team twice threw 61.7 cm from the center of the circle, which was better than the Italian team's 92.2 cm, and won the right to hand after the first set. In the first set, Ma Xiuyue tried to score 2 points on the last attempt, one of which stopped on the edge of the base camp, and the Chinese team scored 2 points after the referee held a measuring instrument to confirm. In the second set, the Italian backhand scored a point. In the third set, the Italian team made many mistakes. Before Ma Xiuyue's last shot, there were only two Chinese team scoring pots left in the camp, and he spun the pot into the camp to score 3 points. In the fourth set, the Chinese team continued to exert pressure, forcing the Italian team to use up the one-time suspension opportunity per game early. Italy's fourth baseman Retornaz's last shot was a difficult shot and scored three points. In the fifth set, Ma Xiuyue, who had a 100% success rate in the first half, cleared the field first and then accurately rotated the pot into the center of the circle, scoring 3 points.

China led 8:4 into the second half. In the sixth set, the chinese team that played first achieved a 4-point containment in the innings, and Retornaz finally decided to save 2 points. In the seventh set, Zou Qiang played a wonderful blow, but Ma Xiuyue failed to strike the first pass. Italy took the opportunity to steal a point to pull the score to 7:8. In the crucial eighth set, the Chinese team Zou Qiang and Ma Xiuyue stabilized the situation and scored 3 points. In the ninth inning, Retornaz completed a high-quality throw on the last shot to pull back two points for Italy.

In the tenth set, the 11:9 leading Chinese team had the right to backhand, the Italian team repeatedly occupied the position and waited for the opportunity to steal points, and the Chinese team successfully cleaned up again and again. In the end, Ma Xiuyue scored 1 point with a fixed score, and the Chinese team won 12:9.

Ma Xiuyue said after the game that the team has made progress in adjusting its mentality in this game, and there are no mood swings. He specifically mentioned the three-run hit at the end of the eighth inning, "the feeling of desperate throwing came up, there was a belief that 'this ball will come to fruition'".

Wang Zhiyu completed 14 hits in the whole game, with a success rate of 86%, and the number of hits in the whole game was second only to Zou Qiang. He said that he has gradually adapted to the atmosphere of the Winter Olympics, and the key to winning the game is to relax his mentality and be more confident in the future.

In the other three men's matches that afternoon, Canada lost 4:7 to Sweden, Denmark lost 6:8 to Switzerland, and Norway defeated the United States 7:6. (End)