Curling-Swedes, Swiss victorious as women's event gets underway

BEIJING : Sweden's Olympic title defence got off to a winning start on Thursday while world champions Switzerland survived a scare to prevail in their opening round-robin match as the women's curling competition kicked off at the National Aquatics Centre.

Anna Hasselborg-led Sweden scored an 8-5 victory over Pyeongchang bronze medallists Japan while Denmark edged hosts China 7-6 in the final end.

Switzerland were made to work for their win in a nail-biting contest and were trailing Britain 5-4, before forcing an extra end and snatching victory after the final throw with British skip Eve Muirhead's stone going long.

The United States, led by Tabitha Petersen, took command of their contest against the Russian Olympic Committee right from the start and were 6-1 up at the halfway mark before cruising to a 9-3 victory.

"We came out firing... Hopefully we can keep it up," said Petersen, who added 2018 U.S. skip Nina Roth to her rink as vice-skip at third. "She's a huge asset and I feel comfortable having her by my side."

Teams will play nine matches in the round-robin stage, which continues later on Thursday, with the top four advancing to the semi-finals next week.

The men's group stage also continues later in the day, with the United States taking on Sweden in a repeat of the 2018 final.

(Reporting by Hritika Sharma; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)