OSLO, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China and three other teams tied for second place in Group C of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Stavanger, Norway after Wednesday's play, leaving the final round-robin games wide open.
With a record 48 teams competing at the championships, only 16 teams will earn their berths in the playoffs; namely, the top two finishers from each of the six groups and the best four third-placed teams.
Once front runners in Group C, China's Fu Yiwei and Zou Dejia took in two sessions on the penultimate day of round-robin games, but were still unsure whether they would qualify for the playoffs.
Fu and Zou beat their Welsh opponents 9-2, with both sides having a 3-1 record heading into session 21, before the Chinese duo lost 10-8 to the Czech Republic in session 24, where Czech player Zuzana Paulova successfully played a double take-out on two Chinese stones to win and keep their own qualification hopes alive.
Italy romped to a 18-0 victory over Nigeria and beat France 6-4 on the same day to move to the top of Group C with a 5-1 record, with China, Australia, the Czech Republic and Wales all tied for second place with 4-2.
In other groups, Hungary and Switzerland have qualified from Group B, and England have progressed from Group E, while 13 of the 16 available playoff slots are still to be decided with one round to go.
The 16 playoff teams will also secure a place in next season's new 20-team World Championships to be held in Kelowna, Canada.
