China earns berth in men's Olympic curling semifinals

SOCHI, Russia, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- China scored a point in the final end Monday to defeat Britain 6-5 and earn a semifinal berth in the men's Olympic curling tournament.

The Chinese joined Sweden and Canada in the semifinals while Britain, despite the loss to China, kept its hopes for a medal alive when Norway fell to Denmark on the final day of the round-robin portion of the tournament.

Denmark had only a 3-5 record heading into its meeting with Norway, but pulled off a 5-3 victory.

Norway and Britain thus ended the preliminary phase of the curling event with a 5-4 record, tied for fourth place. They will meet in a tiebreak game on Tuesday to determine the final spot in the semifinals.

Sweden, which finished atop the round-robin tourney with an 8-1 mark, will meet the Norway-Britain winner in the semifinals on Wednesday. China and Canada will tangle in the other semifinal match. Canada, which is the two-time defending Olympic champion in this event, won its last six matches after starting the tournament with a 1-2 mark.

The gold medal will be determined on Friday.

With a semifinal berth awaiting the winner of the game, Britain scored twice in the ninth end to tie China before the Chinese produced a point in the 10th end to win it.

In other results from the last session of the men's round-robin tournament, Russia defeated Germany and Switzerland downed the United States. Denmark finished sixth in the tourney at 4-5, Russia and Switzerland wound up with 3-6 records, the United States posted a 2-7 mark and Germany ended in last place at 1-8.