GB slip to opening curling defeat The British men's curling team suffered a setback in their pursuit of Olympic gold with a 6-4 defeat by Sweden in their opening round robin encounter. European champions Sweden capitalised on a lack of accuracy at key times by skip David Murdoch's experienced side. And, despite a late rally from the British world champions, the young Swedish line-up held on to win. The British men still have nine round robin matches left, starting against France at 2200 GMT on Wednesday. Murdoch insisted he was not unduly concerned by defeat in the opening game but admitted his side must raise their game. "Pretty much every championship I've been in I've lost the first game. It's the norm for us," said Murdoch, whose accuracy percentage was 66% compared to Sweden captain Niklas Edin's 88%. British curler takes a tumble at Olympics "It's a long week here and the goal is to get the semi-final. Whether that's in first place or fourth place, I don't care. "They were pretty strong but we need to be a bit sharper." Team-mate Ewan McDonald summed up his side's frustration. "It was just one of those games. We were missing by half inches here and there. Sweden are a good team and they'll win a lot of games," said McDonald. Curlers disappointed with slow start The GB women's team, Olympic champions in 2002, start their campaign for gold against China on Wednesday at 1700 GMT. And 19-year-old skip Eve Muirhead is confident her team can push the world champions all the way. "It is going to be a tough opening game for us," said Muirhead "We have learned a lot about them over the last year or so and if we can go out there and perform the best as we can, hopefully we can give them a good run for their money. "If we all perform well, the best we can, I think hopefully we will be up there with the medals."
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