GB men stay in contention for curling medal

The British men's curling team bounced back from a second group stage defeat to beat Denmark 9-6 and improve their record to two wins and two losses.

Skip David Murdoch produced an inch-perfect take-out with his last stone to defeat the Danes after an agonising 4-3 loss to undefeated Switzerland.

Holding last stone advantage, Murdoch's final shot against the Swiss was wayward by inches to hand them victory.

GB's women raced into a 5-0 lead after two ends in a 10-3 win over Russia.

The result means skip Eve Muirhead's team has won two of its three games.

It was a dominant display by the British team, although they had some wayward shots from Russian skip Ludmila Privivkova to thank for the size of their win.

The Russian performance was summed up in the eighth end when Privivkova, who was lying two, sent a simple draw shot long, allowing Muirhead to draw one of her own. The match was immediately conceded with two ends unplayed.

Muirhead said: "We're delighted with that win. We had a good start, which is what we're trying to do.

"We came out sharp and were five up after two ends. From then on, you're just heading for home, and that's what we did."

Last stone anguish for GB curlers

The world champion men's team led 3-2 after end four of their early morning match against Switzerland, but the Swiss levelled in the eighth.

The British team of Murdoch, Ewan MacDonald, Pete Smith and Euan Byers passed up a point in the ninth end to take the game into the 10th with the scores tied at 3-3, but Murdoch's error gifted the Swiss an unlikely victory.

"They played the usual negative Swiss tactics, trying to run you up the last end, and it worked for them again," said the Scot.

"That's not the start we're looking for. We should have wrapped that one up. He left me a shot in the 10th. I made the first one perfectly and I made the second the same and it just didn't curl - a bit bizarre.

"We can't afford too many more losses. Another loss and we're on the back foot so it's win, win from now on. We can't afford to drop any more. That's two bad losses."

His team responded in fine fashion with a tighter victory over Denmark than the 9-6 scoreline would suggest.

Britain held a 3-2 lead after five ends, but trailed 3-4 going into the eighth end. However the match swung in Murdoch's favour when his superbly weighted draw cannoned off a Danish stone to lie two.

He then capitalised on a slightly wayward final stone from opposing skip Johnny Frederiksen to make three and take a 6-4 lead and a final end triple gave the final score a flattering look.

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