Women's curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 7 round-up: Sweden join Switzerland in semi-finals as battle for top four intensifies

Sweden joined Switzerland in the Beijing 2022 women’s curling semi-finals on Wednesday (16 February), with no fewer than five teams battling over the last two spots.

The reigning Olympic champions booked their ticket to the playoffs with one match to spare after an 8-5 victory over ROC.

Hosts China threw the proverbial cat among the pigeons with two wins on Wednesday over medal hopefuls Great Britain (8-4) and Canada (11-9).

They are now 4-5 and need GB, Canada and Korea all to lose on Thursday - and Japan to win - to make the semis.

For British skip Eve Muirhead, the defeat came in a cagey affair which China broke open with a triple in the ninth end to lead 7-4.

Muirhead was left with a difficult double takeout to try to salvage an extra end but she failed to pull it off, and China stole one to complete victory.

GB are now 4-4 and need to win their final game against ROC to have any chance of progress.

China also scored a deserved win over Canada to leave Jennifer Jones and her rink needing a win on Thursday

Down 5-3 at midway, the Sochi 2014 gold medallist piled on the pressure and was rewarded with a five-point end to take an 8-5 lead after six ends.

But China skip Wang Rui was in inspired form, responding with a double and then a steal of one to level it up.

Canada scored one in the ninth, and China replied with a single to force the extra end.

Jones had the hammer but, after China had done well to put stones in scoring positions near the button, missed a run-back with the final shot of the match to give the Chinese a steal of two and the win.

Canada, like Great Britain, move to 4-4 with a final round-robin match against Denmark remaining.

Two defeats on Wednesday ended the United States' hopes of reaching the