The Chinese women's curling team lost to Canada 9-2 in their first match at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games here on Monday.

China, bronze medalists of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, lost the rhythm and struggled in dealing with the strong rivals, while Canada, runners-up at Vancouver, didn't give China any chance.

Canada took an early 3-1 lead after the fourth end, and in the fifth, the 39-year-old skip Jennifer Jones executed an excellent double takeout in the four foot which led to a count of three. The stone was swept the whole way and just passed the front Canadian stone. Canada was leading 9-2 after the seventh when China chose to end the game.

"Canada played very well and they seemed really comfortable while we were a little bit off, unfortunately it was the story today," said China's Canadian coach Marcel Rocque.

"I've said that our goal is to win as many games as we can to play the playoffs. One win or one loss is not that important."

Wang Bingyu, the skip of the Chinese team, said the players had problem adjusting to the venue.

"I don't think there is any problem in our techniques," she said. "We are not used to the sheet and the stone and we made lots of mistakes today."

Fortunately the Chinese men's team tasted a victory in their opener earlier Monday by beating Denmark 7-4.

China took the lead since the second end, and enlarged it to 6-2 in the eighth. Chinese skip Liu Rui made an excellent promotion takeout to remove the Danish shot stone to score three in the eighth to give the team a clear lead. Denmark got two points in the ninth before losing it 7-4.

"We are still adjusting to the venue and the sheet, so it's not our best form," said Chinese third Xu Xiaoming. "But the victory is a relief indeed, as we had some pressure and really wanted to win it."

In the other women's matches, Switzerland beat the United States 7-4, Sweden edged Britain 6-4, while hosts Russia beat Denmark 7-4.

Also in the men's round robin, Russia lost to Britain 4-7, Sweden edged Switzerland 7-5, and defending champion Canada outclassed Germany 11-8. Four more men's matches will be held later Monday. Enditem

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