By Liam Morgan

Canadian skip Pat Simmons led his side to two victories on the second day on home ice in Halifax ©WCFCanada maintained their 100 per cent record at the Ford World Men's Curling Championship with two victories on the second day of competition to the delight of the home crowd at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.

The reigning Olympic champions got the better of China in a relatively tense affair in the afternoon session as they eventually claimed a 7-4 win, adding to their narrow success over the United States on the opening day.

In the evening session, the hosts were again involved in a tight affair with Sweden as skip Niklas Edin managed to bring the game level at 6-6 after the eighth end with a superb shot under pressure, but the Canadians proved too strong in the end as they secured a 9-6 victory.

Canada are now the only team left in the tournament who have yet to suffer defeat, a record they will be looking to protect when they face the Czech Republic and Russia tomorrow.

"We had a few bad breaks and just hung in there, but kudos to them because they stuck in and pushed us for sure - I'm happy to have just hung on," Canada's skip Pat Simmons said.

Elsewhere on day two, defending champions Norway were beaten for the first time at this year's event as they fell to a surprise 10-7 loss to the US.

In what was another cracking contest on a packed day of action, Norway managed to force an extra end with the scores level at seven apiece, before an excellent performance from American skip John Shuster sealed an excellent 10-7 win for his side.

Defending champions Norway recovered from defeat to the United States in the afternoon by beating Russia in the evening ©WCFDefending champions Norway recovered from defeat to the United States in the afternoon by beating Russia in the evening ©WCF



The Norwegians were again taken to an extra end in the evening by Russia, eventually squeezing through with a 7-6 victory, while the Amercian team could not build on their success over the 2014 world champions as they lost 9-3 to Switzerland.

The Swiss started the day badly with a 5-3 reverse at the hands of the Russians, and Italy picked up their second win of the tournament after thrashing Sweden 11-5 in the day's opening match, thanks largely to Amos Mosaner's score of six in the ninth end.

The topsy-turvy nature of the results carried on into the evening when China, beaten by Canada in the afternoon session, recovered to earn a comfortable 6-2 win over the Italians.

Finland and Scotland faced each other in a basement battle and the Scots torrid run continued as Finnish skip Aku Kauste scored three points in the final end to claim a 10-7 victory.

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