Jo Butterfield and Jason Kean beaten 10-5 by China
Beating hosts would put pair in semi-finals
Great Britain must defeat the host nation, Italy, in their final round-robin match of the mixed doubles curling to secure a place in the semi-finals, after being roundly beaten by China.
Jo Butterfield and Jason Kean started well against the unbeaten pair of Wang Meng and Yang Jun and led at the halfway stage of the match. Missed opportunities and a sharp improvement from their opponents, however, meant a 5-3 lead became a 10-5 defeat, with the eighth end left unplayed.
Butterfield said the shift in the match was explained by China getting a better measure of the force needed to “draw”, or land a stone in or in front of the scoring house. “Unfortunately, in the second half of the match they really dialled into what draw weight was. They had it very strong and we struggled,” she said.
