World Best Sports

The consolation is that there are eight more round-robin matches to go before the semi-final line-up is decided, though Murdoch will need to find his range quickly if he and his team-mates are to fulfil their potential, starting with Britain’s next game against France. As the reigning world champions, Murdoch’s team carry Britain’s best hopes of a gold medal in Vancouver but on Tuesday it was the 24-year-old Swedish skip, Niklas Edin, who was calling most of the shots. Ahead after the second end, Edin remained in command throughout, stretching Sweden’s advantage to 5-2 as Murdoch misfired with a series of poor draws and a botched double take-out attempt in the sixth end.

Although Murdoch rallied to 5-4, he handed the match to the Swedes with another uncharacteristic error in the final end when he was too heavy with his last stone. Sweden, the youngest team in the tournament, have high hopes of a medal themselves after taking the European title in Aberdeen a few months ago and the evidence of Tuesday is that they could well prove the dark horses. The statistics told the story, with an accuracy score of 66 per cent for Murdoch compared to 88 per cent for Edin.

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