Beijing, China, February 2, 2022: China made a sensational start to the Winter Olympics by beating Switzerland in a mixed doubles curling thriller at the Ice Cube National Aquatics Centre on Wednesday evening.
With the 19-day curling competition beginning two days before Friday’s opening ceremony, China opened the round robin competition with a 7-6 victory over the Swiss in the first extra end.
The scores were level 6-6 after the regulation eight ends but Switzerland held a 3-0 lead in the first extra end with just one shot to come from China’s Fan Suyuan.
Showing remarkable nerve and precision, the 25-year-old Fan sent her stone down the ice and took out all three yellow Swiss stones occupying the target and left her own red stone in sole control to pull off a dramatic victory.
China’s team of Fan and Ling Zhi, 27, had started steadily against the Swiss pair of Jenny Perret and Martin Rios and won the first three ends all by 1-0 for a 3-0 lead.
The Swiss, silver medallists at PyeongChang 2018, won the fourth end 2-0 to close the gap to one point at the halfway stage. After China had taken the fifth end 1-0 to go 4-2 ahead, Switzerland produced a 3-0 score in the sixth end thanks to a Rios double take-out to lead for the first time in the match, 5-4.
Although China edged in front again 6-5 after seven ends with more fine play from Fan, Switzerland won the eighth end 1-0 for 6-6 to take the match into an extra end.
Fan spoke of the commitment of the two players, and the responsibility to do well.
"This was the very first match of Team China, so we decided to bring about a good start in the Lunar New Year. We wanted to have every stone nicely slid. We encourage and support each other no matter what happens. We are teammates after all."
Asked about her feelings when Switzerland won the sixth end 3-0 to lead for the first time at 5-4, Fan commented: “It is normal to encounter setbacks. We accept the faults of teammates and the excellent performances of our opponents. The important thing is to keep ourselves calm. We can compete against any team if we are able to keep ourselves in tune."
Her teammate Ling said they were always prepared to play extra ends. “We presume that we will play the extra end in every match, so we are always prepared for the hardest situation,” he said.
China made the perfect start to their long campaign in mixed doubles, as they will face Australia and Sweden on Thursday, Canada on Friday, the United States and Norway on Saturday, Great Britain and Italy on Sunday and Czech Republic on Monday.
The top four teams after the round robin will advance to the semi-finals, also on Monday, with the bronze medal play-off and final on Tuesday.