Amos Mosaner (R) and Stefania Constantini of Italy compete during the curling mixed doubles round robin session against Canada at Beijing 2022 on Feb. 6, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
Italy finishes the mixed doubles curling round-robin competition with an unbeaten record at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
BEIJING, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Italy kept a clean sheet in the mixed doubles curling round-robin competition, beating Canada 8-7 in the 13th and last session Monday morning, which not only completed its undefeated record to nine wins during the stage, but also put an end to Canada's semifinal hopes at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.
In other games of the session, Norway beat Switzerland 6-5 to consolidate its second place in the rankings, while Britain's 8-4 win over the United States confirmed its third place overall.
Canada's loss also meant Sweden's qualification for the semifinals as both teams have accumulated five wins against four losses but Sweden has a better head-to-head record with its 6-2 win over Canada on Saturday.
Amos Mosaner of Italy rolls his stone during the curling mixed doubles round robin session against Canada at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on Feb. 6, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
Italy built up a 4-2 lead by the halfway point of their game against Canada, but the latter leveled the scores at 4-4 in the fifth end.
In the seventh end, leading by 5-4, Italy's Stefania Constantini missed her take-out attempt, which resulted in three points for Canada who rushed ahead by 7-5. However, Italy bounced back in the eighth end as Constantini rolled her last stone for two points to level the scores at 7-7 and put the game into an extra end.
In that end, Constantini drew her last stone into a pocket around the button and the Canadian team tried to do the same. It was hard to tell which of the two stones was closest, and took two measure attempts by the umpire to confirm Italy has scored one by the narrowest of margins.
"We had a small chance to steal that game. I think we played a good extra end and in the end we were a little bit lucky because they overswept the last shot. It was perfect. We were a bit lucky we won," said Italy's Amos Mosaner.
The semifinal line-up sees overall leader Italy facing fourth-ranked Sweden, while second-placed Norway is up against third-placed Britain. ■
