Italy 9, Great Britain 7 (Session 1)
A score of four in the first end gave Italy a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in a win on Friday over the defending world champions.
In the opening end, Great Britain was sitting count one when Bruce Mouat attempted to take out two Italian stones with his hammer throw. He missed badly, instead taking out two of his own stones to allow Italy to steal four and take a huge lead early.
But Team GB wasn’t done just yet. They scored two in the fourth and stole another in the fifth, and did the same thing in the eighth and ninth ends to tie the score at 7-7 going into the final end.
In the 10th, Joel Retornaz came up with a big double-takeout on Italy’s penultimate throw while sitting one of his own. All Great Britain could do is throw a draw, which Retornaz again took out for two points and the Italian win.
Retornaz made 93 percent of his takeout attempts and 100 percent of his draws in the win.
Great Britain (2-1) took the afternoon session off and return to play Czechia at 3:05 a.m. ET.
Great Britain (7)
Italy (9)
0
1st end
4
1
2nd end
0
0
3rd end
1
2
4th end
0
1
5th end
0
0
6th end
0
0
7th end
2
2
8th end
0
1
9th end
0
0
10th end
2