Curling-Edin rues Sweden's lack of 'toughness' as title defence crumbles

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 16 : Olympic men's curling champions Sweden are headed for an early exit from the Winter Olympics after managing just one win in six games, with skip Niklas Edin admitting his team has lacked the fortitude displayed by their hungrier rivals.

The Swedes' title defence all but ended following Monday's 7-3 defeat to Germany, leaving them needing an extraordinary set of circumstances to go their way for them to reach the semi-finals.

"There are a lot of young hungry teams out there that are competing more and they're higher on the world rankings and playing more tough playoff games," three-times Olympic medallist Edin said.

"Maybe with all of that combined, we don't have kind of the same toughness... We weren't sharp enough early on. Definitely wanted to finish off stronger in this Olympics, no matter if we are due another one or not, but it is what it is now. 

"We can only try and win the last few games we have, play some better curling, enjoy Italy. Right now it feels kind of empty."

Sweden's campaign has also been overshadowed by controversy after they accused Canada of cheating during a game on Friday, sparking a storm that Edin believes drained his team's energy.

"We probably didn't expect the reactions," Edin said. 

"We kind of started it, even though we felt like they (Canada) maybe should have done something different technically. It just felt like a lot of energy went the wrong way in this event."

GAMES RECORD

Edin, playing in his fifth Games, set a record by playing his 51st game at the Olympics against Germany – overtaking American John Shuster.

"It's a testament that we've done really well for a very long time," he said. 

"We've got to try and remember all the good stuff and all the good