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Canada moved to the top of the table at the Men's Curling tournament as the only team with a 2-0 record, defeating Germany 9-4.
On Sheet A, Canada jumped out to an early lead with a deuce in the first end. Germany played splendidly for the next three, keeping more pressure on Canada than the host rink probably expected. Clutch Canada throws, however, prevented Germany from scoring in any but the third end. The teams went to the fifth tied 2-2.
German skip Andy KAPP (GER) made his first significant mistake of the tournament in the fifth end, wrecking on a guard with his final stone to leave Canada skip Kevin MARTIN (CAN) an open draw for two to move Canada ahead 4-2.
In the seventh end, MARTIN's beautifully played angle raise takeout for three moved Canada out to a 7-3 lead. Canada took two more in the ninth to boost their lead to 9-4 and earn the concession.
Germany is now 1-1 in Round Robin play.

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Sheet B's game between China and France was a slow, deliberate affair in which both rinks nearly ran out of time.

Chinese fourth Rui LIU (CHN) did France's early work for them, under-throwing a last-rock takeout attempt in the first to allow France to steal one, and overthrowing a free draw in the sixth to hand France a steal of two. Through six, France led 4-1.

Thereafter, LIU looked solid. China bounced back with three in the seventh and stole one in the ninth to take a 5-4 lead.

French skip Thomas DUFOUR (FRA), however, pulled off the shot of the tournament so far in the 10th end with the last stone, a magnificent angle raise takeout. He banged his shooter into a French guard lying well above the house, and two feet from the left guard rail, angling it back to remove China's shot stone, which was buried on the button. The shot gave France a 6-5 victory.
France is now 1-0 and China 0-1 in Round Robin play.

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Sheet D's United States-Norway game saw little early scoring. The teams went to the seventh with Norway holding a 2-1 advantage.

The teams then traded deuces for three ends, beginning with the USA's in the seventh. Norway went into the 10th down 5-4, needing another deuce to win. But skip Thomas ULSRUD (NOR) wrecked on a guard with his first skip stone and could only manage a single, forcing the game in to extra ends.

With the hammer, USA skip John SHUSTER (USA) had a draw for the win in the first extra end but overthrew it, leaving Norway with shot stone and victory.

Norway is now 1-1 in Round Robin play. The USA is 0-2.

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On Sheet A, David Murdoch's 2009 World Championship rink flexed its Curling muscles by beating France 9-4.

Great Britain moved out to a 4-0 lead after three ends, largely on the strength of a second-end steal of two, and led 6-2 at the break.

France pulled to within two in the seventh, when MURDOCH, with the hammer, could only remove one of two French counters with his final stone, giving France a steal of one.
Great Britain went into the ninth leading 7-4 with the hammer, and MURDOCH made a big double takeout with his first skip stone to spoil French hopes of a comeback. The game was conceded before he threw his last stone.

Great Britain and France each now stands at 1-1.

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The United States-Switzerland contest on Sheet B was defined by miscues by both rinks' fourths.

Switzerland moved to a 4-0 lead after three, mostly due to the poor form of USA skip John SHUSTER (USA). His failed last-stone draw in the second gave the Swiss a steal of one, and his takeout attempt in the third rolled out after contact to give the Swiss another steal of one.

The USA rink mounted a comeback as SHUSTER steadied and Swiss fourth Ralph STOECKLI (SUI) began to falter. The USA took a deuce in the fourth end with the hammer and then benefited from three consecutive steals of one to move ahead 5-4 after seven. The USA stole yet another in the eighth after Swiss skip Markus EGGLER (SUI), who throws second, seemed to misjudge which of two stones in the four-foot, a USA red or a Swiss yellow, was shot stone before the Swiss threw the end's last rock.

The teams went into the 10th with USA leading 6-5. SHUSTER had a draw for the win, but his shooter had centimetres less of the four-foot than a Swiss rock, resulting in a Swiss steal and a 6-6 tie.

The USA had the hammer in the 11th end, but Switzerland applied the pressure. With his last stone, STOECKLI played a fine takeout, leaving his shooter as shot stone at the top four. SHUSTER tried to remove it with a raise. He did, but his shooter had too much weight and another Swiss rock turned out to be shot stone. The steal of one gave Switzerland a 7-6 win.

The USA is now 0-3.

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On Sheet C, China made short work of Denmark, earning a concession after seven ends. The final score was 8-1.

Denmark was unimpressive from the start. In the first end, Danish fourth Johnny FREDERIKSEN (DEN) knocked out his own stone with the hammer, giving China an early 1-0 lead. Denmark picked up one point in the second, but thereafter it was all China.

The tournament rookies took over with a draw for three in the third end, and steals of one and two in the fourth and fifth. They led 7-1 at the break.

Denmark had the hammer in the sixth. Trying to remove two Chinese counters, FREDERIKSEN missed, leaving one behind for another Chinese steal, after which Denmark conceded.

Denmark is now 0-2. China is 1-1.

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Sweden, the 2009 European champions and the youngest team in the Men's draw, met Germany's veteran side on Sheet D. The back-and-forth game went to the seventh end and tied 3-3.

Sweden stole one in the eighth and carried that 4-3 lead into the 10th. Germany, with the hammer, searched in vain for an opportunity for a deuce, as the Swedes kept the house filled with their yellow rocks.

Skip Andy KAPP (GER) could not even manage a single. Swedish skip Niklas EDIN (SWE) played a brilliant freeze onto the button with his last stone. KAPP could not force it out and Sweden claimed a 6-3 victory.

Germany's record is now 1-2.

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USA's John Shuster went down by 6-7 to Denmark in an extra-end thriller.

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Norway's Thomas Ulsrud beaten Germany's Andy Kapp by 7-4.

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European Champion 2009 was not able to resist and has bended under the push of Kevin 'Old Bear' Martin.

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That was a repeation of the European semifinal 2009 and Stockli/Eggler won again.

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Sweden's Edin beat the People-s Republic of China team, led by Fengchun Wang, by 6-5 in an extra end to grab his second-place slot.

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After losing out on a last-stone decider against Switzerland in the fourth session, reigning world champion David Murdoch from Great Britain kept his semi-final hopes alive with a 9-6 win over Denmark on Thursday evening, scoring three in the tenth end with a straightforward hit and stay. Murdoch now lies in fifth place on two wins, one victory ahead of France and the Chinese.

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Switzerland's Markus Eggler lost to Norway by 4-7 in the fifth session, now share second place in the rankings on one loss each.

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Not for the first time at a major championship event, Canada's Kevin Martin stands alone, undefeated at the top of the rankings after the fifth round-robin session of the Vancouver Winter Olympics curling competition, with four wins and no losses.

Canada achieved this position on Thursday evening with perhaps their most emphatic victory so far, beating France by 12-5, thanks largely to a score of five in the fourth end. France-s Thomas Dufour had no real response to this and he eventually conceded when Canada piled in another three points in the eighth. This Canadian victory came after their 7-3 win over Sweden in the fourth session.

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Germany brought in alternate Daniel Herberg in their game against Switzerland, Andreas Kempf sat out. The Swiss were up 4-1 by the fourth end. Germany-s Andy Kapp came back to 4-4 with two consecutive steals in the sixth and seventh ends. Kapp went on to take three in the ninth. In the tenth, Swiss fourth, Ralph Stoeckli had to draw to the button to take a deuce and tie the game but it came up light. Germany won 7-6.

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Canada remain undefeated in the men-s curling event at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games after defeating Denmark 10-3 in just six ends of play. The defining moment was in the fourth end, when Danish Fourth Johnny Frederiksen-s final stone caught a front guard, rolled into the open and allowed Canadian skip Kevin Martin to play an open take out for five to obtain a 7-2 advantage.

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In an attempt to get off the bottom spot, the USA changed their line up for their game against France. Skip John Shuster was rested and alternate Chris Plys stepped in to replace him but playing third stones. This defensive game was tied after seven ends at 1-1 and France got a major break scoring 2 shots for a 3-1 lead. By the tenth they were tied again at 3-3. French skip Thomas Dufour ended up short with the last shot of the game, giving the Americans a steal and their first win of these games.

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In the remaining match Norway and China traded single points until the eighth end. With the score at 3-3 Norwegian Skip Thomas Ulsrud finally got two shots for a decisive lead in the game which he managed to convert into a 7-5 win by the end.

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Sitting one win behind Canada is Norway-s Thomas Ulsrud, who only played in Saturday-s early session, beating Denmark-s Ulrik Schmidt 6-3, a result that handed Denmark their fifth loss.
Denmark was joined on five losses by the Chinese, who went down to their second loss of the day, by 5-9 to Switzerland-s Markus Eggler, in session 8. China and Denmark are now propping up the table with just one win each, and no prospects of making the medal stages.

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Their victory over China gave Switzerland their fourth win overall, and they now sit in a clear third place on the table.

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In the most eagerly awaited game of the curling programme, Canada-s Kevin Martin won the re-run of last season-s World Championship final, when he beat Great Britain-s David Murdoch by 7-6 in front of a whooping, noisy 5,500 Canadian crowd.

"Hell of a game, not a good result," said Murdoch after match. "We made a mistake in the seventh [end] when we had a chance for two, but then we stole one in the eighth. We controlled most of the match and were making high pressure shots."

This was Canada-s only game on Saturday and the result maintained their unbeaten run, with their six wins keeping them at the top of the pile. Earlier, Britain had beaten Fengchun Wang of the People-s Republic of China, by 9-4.

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With Great Britain beating USA by 4-2, three teams are now tied on won four, lost three in third place v Great Britain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The USA team was re-cast once again for the game against world champion David Murdoch, with vice-skip Jason Smith throwing fourth stones instead of skip John Shuster and alternate Chris Plys on at lead instead of John Benton. However, the British team proved too strong for the USA and, after British lead Euan Byers delivered two accurate tick shots in the tenth end to keep the route to the button open, Murdoch had a simple draw for his 4-2 win.

Afterwards Murdoch said, "In a game like that you just have to be patient, we were playing well and we were in control of the game. We finished it off this time, which was great".

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Sweden's Niklas Edin pinched a tight game against Norway-s Thomas Ulsrud, with a single steal in the tenth when Ulsrud-s final shot was just off-target. Despite this 7-8 loss, Norway remains in second place on the rankings, with five wins.

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In the fourth game of the session, Denmark-s Johnny Frederiksen beat Germany-s Andy Kapp by 9-5 for only his second win of the event so far. This loss leaves Germany on three wins and depending on results elsewhere - as well as returning to winning ways - to stay in the medal hunt. Thinking about this, Kapp said, "It is not in our hands. We-ll take a look after the game tomorrow, as long as we keep winning".

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Norway beat France by 9-2 in the tenth session, and sat out the eleventh. Norway's closing game v against Britain will have a direct bearing on who else joins them and Canada, or whether a tie-breaker will be needed. A Norwegian loss in that game would put Britain straight into the semi-finals, while a British loss would likely put them into a tie-breaker.

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Also involved are Switzerland, who, like Britain are currently on five wins. The Swiss face France in their round-robin closer, and Sweden who, after losing to Switzerland by 3-7 in the tenth session, are on four wins as they go onto the ice against Denmark for their last round-robin game.

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As this game started, both still had semi-final possibilities, but Britain-s David Murdoch dominated throughout to win by 8-2 in eight ends and put paid to Germany-s Andy Kapp-s medal hopes. The damage was done in the third and fourth ends when Germany gave up steals of one and two, as Kapp struggled to find his draw weight.

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In the third game of the eleventh session France-s Thomas Dufour beat Denmark by 6-5 after an extra end.

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Elsewhere, the People-s Republic of China, who had gone down narrowly by 6-7 to Germany in the tenth session, beat USA by 11-5 for only their second win. While China have one game left to play, this result meant that USA, who had once again shuffled their line-up after being beaten 7-2 by unbeaten Canada in the tenth session, concluded their Olympic campaign on two wins and seven losses.

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Canada-s Kevin Martin completed his unblemished round-robin programme with a one-sided 10-3 win over the People-s Republic of China, a win that was set up when he scored four in the first end. Afterwards a pleased John Morris, Canada-s third, said, "We-re in the position we want to be in and what more can you ask for? Bring it on".

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There was drama on this sheet, with Sweden fighting for survival against Denmark. Sweden had opened with a three, but Denmark battled back to level the game at 6-6 after nine. In the tenth end Edin had a hit and stay to score the one point needed for a 7-6 victory and a further chance to qualify.

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Murdoch-s men went down by 5-9 to Norway-s Thomas Ulsrud, who scored twos in the first, third and fifth ends, before being handed a game-winning steal of three when Murdoch-s raise attempt went wrong. "We just got the angles wrong" shrugged Ewan MacDonald, Britain-s third player. This win, watched by Harald V, King of Norway, gave Norway second place in the rankings.

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In the fourth game of the session, Switzerland-s Marcus Eggler was in charge throughout to beat France-s Thomas Dufour by 6-2. The Swiss ranked third overall and now go into a semi-final against second-placed Norway, while top-ranked Canada await the winner of the tie-breaker between Britain and Sweden. Speaking about his semi-final opponents, Swiss skip Eggler said, "We know it will be a tough game and we are the underdogs. Norway are the best European team".