GRAND FORKS – Australia's last-rock loss to Pacific regional rivals China have threatened to put an end to their wild playoff run at the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship.

China's Fengchun Wang took two in the ninth and stole the 10th end to defeat Hugh Millikin's Aussies 5-3 in a critical next-to-last round-robin game. Australia was tied for second or third place through much of the week despite some close losses, and with their last match scheduled against powerful Norway in Thursday night's final round-robin draw, the chance for victory over China was a great opportunity missed

Even the front-running Canadians, who defeated Switzerland 8-6 to run their record to 9-1, found themselves cheering for the Aussies. Kevin Martin's squad stood behind their scoreboard for a full end to watch Australia's dramatic – and despondent – finish.

"I don't believe it, geez," third John Morris growled as he stomped off the ice. "That was a big game for them. We could've helped them out by beating China, but they've had a ton of games go right down to the wire. They should've beaten France, for sure."

Morris' father Earle is the coach for the Australian team.

"If (Australia) won, Earle was going to get his head shaved," said Canadian team official Paul Webster. "The Aussies have never had a winning record (at the Worlds) and this would've guaranteed a 6-5. So Earle was going down – six wins and a shave."

With the win, China also claimed the Pacific Cup, a special trophy awarded to the winner of the all-Pacific battle at the World Men's. As the teams shook hands, Chinese lead Jialing Zang grabbed the trophy and raised it to the crowd in triumph.

Millikin also lost the Cup battle at the 2007 Worlds to Korea's Je-Ho "Jimmy" Lee, who defeated the Australians 7-6.

China jumped to 6-4, the same number of wins as Scotland and Norway, who are both at 6-3. Craig Brown of the United States is at 5-4, while Millikin dropped into a three-way tie at 5-5 with France and Germany.

France's Thomas Dufour lost to Sweden 7-5, another devastating loss for a team fighting for a playoff spot. With the win, Sweden's Anders Kraupp improved to 3-7.

Germany returned to the picture with their first win in six games, but it wasn't easy. Andy Kapp's foursome from Fuessen  went to an extra end before scoring three to beat Denmark's Johnny Frederiksen 10-7. The Danes dropped to 4-6.

Only two draws remain, and the likelihood of tiebreakers are increasing with every game. In Thursday afternoon action, the United States meets Switzerland (2-8), Norway battles China, Germany takes on Scotland and France meets the Czech Republic (2-8).

Numerous television groups are delivering live and tape-delayed action, plus highlight packages, to world curling fans. Eurosport, CBC/CBCSports.ca/Bold (Canada), NBCOlympics.com and WCSN (United States) and CurlTV are all on site in Grand Forks.

Live results, with linescores and shooting percentages, are available via: worldmenscurling2008.com with mirrored scores also posted at: results.worldcurling.org