The host nation's women's team suffered a 5-7 defeat to Finland, while the Norwegian men went down to Scotland 8-6.

Men's European champions Switzerland did, however, get their title defending campaign underway with a 6-5 win on home ice against Russia.

"That was an important victory against a strong opponent," Switzerland skip Sven Michel said.

"There was tension before this game as it was our first game at an international Championship with the new team line-up, plus we were playing in front of a home support."

There was also success for Germany's men's team, who beat Denmark by 8-6, the Czech Republic, who proved too strong for Latvia as they won 6-2, and Sweden, who had a comfortable 8-2 win over Italy, in just six ends.

The second session of men's play saw another win for Germany, who defeated Latvia 8-2 after just seven ends of play, as Sweden won 5-4 in a match against the Czech Republic.

Scotland also claimed another victory, this time over Denmark in a 7-5 win, while defending champions Switzerland suffered a disappointing 4-7 loss to Italy after their win in the morning.

There was a win for Lene Nielsen's Danish team ©Getty Images


World champions Norway bounced back from their morning defeat to beat Russia by 8-1.

"We did not start well this morning and I'm not really happy to be one and one [wins/losses] on the first day," Norway skip Thomas Ulsrud admitted.

"I think we can do better than we did today.

"I would love to win to have both the Worlds and the European championships [in the same year].

"That's definitely something to play for."

Meanwhile in the other women's games of the day, Lene Nielsen led her new Danish squad to a 7-6 win over Scotland, led by multiple world and European medallist Eve Muirhead.

"There was difficult conditions out there and both teams struggled," Nielsen said.

"Fortunately we came out on top so right now I'm just very happy.

"I got a few breaks where she didn't.

"We were just lucky that we were the ones that won."

Russia secured a 10-6 win against Estonia, as Latvia overcame the Czech Republic by 5-4 and reigning European women's champions Sweden beat Germany by 6-4.

Play resumes tomorrow with the women's second session in the morning.

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