VERNON – China won a tough extra-end battle against Denmark and Italy entered the win column to kick off day three at the 2008 Ford World Women's Curling Championship.

China's Bingyu Wang trailed trailed 6-5 in the ninth end against Denmark, skipped by 2007 World silver medallist Angelina Jensen, and had scored only single points throughout the match. The Chinese scored a big three-ender and were looking good in the final end, as Jensen sought to build a multiple score.

Danish fourth-thrower Madeleine Dupont faced a thin double-takeout on her last stone for three and the win, but rolled her shooter out of play for the 8-8 tie.

In the extra-end, Denmark conjured two stones in the four-foot rings, but Wang made a superb double-takeout. She then faced a hit-and-stay for the 9-8 win and made no mistake.

This was the rubber-match between the two sides. At the 2006 Ford Worlds in Grande Prairie, Wang defeated Jensen 8-4 in the round-robin and finished ahead of the Danes in the standings. Last year in Aomori, Japan, Denmark edged China 7-6 in the round-robin.

"They're quite good, technically strong," said Dupont.

"We could've beaten them, just for a few millimetres here or there. But not today." 

Italy's Diana Gaspari won her first match in four attempts by drawing the four-foot for a 5-4 win over Russia. Gaspari, who battled gamely in close matches thus far, pumped her fist numerous times after her final shot.

"It was because in the other two games I missed my last shots, this one I finally made it," said Gaspari, who was a surprise silver medallist at the 2006 Le Gruyère European Championships behind the even more surprising Russians.

"We are coming, finally. We are really happy, the first win. We have a young team and we need to get some wins."

In other games, the United States overpowered Scotland 9-7 and Sweden earned a grinding 6-5 win over Japan.

China leads the field at 4-0, with Canada's Jennifer Jones also undefeated at 3-0. Debbie McCormick of the United States is at 3-1, with Switzerland's Mirjam Ott at 2-1.

Three teams are tied at 2-2 and another four squads have one win.

No less than seven broadcast partners are delivering live and tape-delayed action to world curling fans. Eurosport, NHK (Japan), TSN and CBC (Canada), WCSN and NBCOlympics.com (United States) and CurlTV are all onsite in Vernon, with live results also available via curling.ca and results.worldcurling.org

CCA photos courtesy Michael Burns