PYEONGCHANG, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland is to play Canada in the final of mixed doubles curling after beating Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR) in a see-saw game here Monday evening at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Both world champions, the Swiss and the OAR played a close game in the last match of the round robin session Sunday.
Monday's game turned out a key one for both teams, and the Russian players, seemingly under more pressure, made a fatal mistake in the last shot of the eighth end, which cost them the game.
The Swiss opened the match with a 2-0 lead, but the Russians caught up and leveled the score in the second. Both sides gained two more points in the next three ends and were tied again after the fifth.
In the sixth, the OAR capitalized on a mistake of the Swiss to steal a point, but Switzerland, with the hammer, turned the tide 6-5 after the seventh.
In the final end, after a few mistakes on both sides, the OAR was faced with a tough choice: to make a draw to the button to score one more point and bring the game to an extra, or to take the risk and try to knock out two stones of the opponents to seal the game?
Under pressure to win and with limited time to think, the OAR failed to achieve either and handed Switzerland the victory.
"I was sure in the last shot we could take at least one point. Too much nervousness," said Russian coach Vasily Gudin.
He said he was a little disappointed, but he was sure that his players, both young and taking part in the Olympics for the first time, will have a big future playing curling.
Swiss player Martin Rios said that the OAR was a great team and made a lot of good shots. "We were lucky winners," he said.
He thanked his teammate for supporting him after he made a few mistakes in the fifth and sixth ends, and said they would adjust themselves for playing Canada next morning.
Earlier in the day, Canada beat Norway 8-4 to qualify for the final.
Canada, with six wins and only one loss in the round robin session, seems unstoppable. But their only loss was to Norway in the first game on Feb. 8. Monday's revenge was not easy for them either, as Norwegian player Kristin Skaslien made a few great shots to hold back the Canadians.
But a few mistakes of the Norwegians later in the match handed Canada an early victory 8-4.
"We had a good fight in the beginning. We managed to stay close to the Canadians. Then we missed a couple of key shots. The Canadians were better than us today, so they won," said Skaslien.
On Tuesday, Canada and Switzerland will compete for the gold medal of the newly introduced Olympic event, while Norway and the OAR will fight for the bronze.
