LAUSANNE, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Hosts Switzerland beat China 5-3 in a mixed curling Group B match at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Champery on Friday.
The 24 teams are divided into four groups of six and will play a round-robin series within their respective groups. The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals.
Playing their opening game against China in front of the home crowd, the Swiss established a 4-1 lead after four ends of play. Both teams traded single points until the eighth end, before Switzerland ran China out of stones to win 5-3.
The captain of Chinese curling team Zhang Likun said, "I give myself a seven out of 10 for today's performance. The Swiss players are more consistent than us and have a better ability to read the game, which is worth learning."
"Four Chinese athletes went through a selection process last summer and they were chosen out of about 100 participants. They are talented and brilliant. What they should do next is to learn from their peers and to develop strategy skills," said China coach Perry Marshall.
In other Group B matches, Hungary beat Denmark 6-2 while Germany smashed Brazil 15-1.
Elsewhere, Canada, South Korea and Poland set off their Lausanne 2020 journey with wins in Group A. Britain, Norway and New Zealand were victorious in Group C and Italy beat the United States in Group D.
