Olympic curling qualifier: Scotland falter against South Korea on day three

Eve Muirhead complained of the ice conditions in the Netherlands in their second tie

Skip Eve Muirhead says her team must do better after an 8-4 loss to South Korea made it successive defeats in their women's Olympic qualifying event.

There are nine nations competing for the last three places at Beijing 2022.

"I came up short with that draw against three in the second end and that put us on the back foot," said Muirhead.

"We just got caught out a little bit on the speeds there and hitting the slide path."

Muirhead had been critical of the conditions in Leeuwarden, but felt there were signs of progress before their meeting with the only unbeaten team in the competition, Japan.

She said: "We did adapt to the very tough, straight conditions quicker today, but we still need to do better with that and hopefully we'll do that tonight against Japan."

As they had done before their previous matches, Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Hailey Duff went into the opening end with the upper hand after winning the pre-match last stone draw, but again failed to capitalise against Korea.

Having conceded steals at the first end on the way to beating the Czech Republic, then when losing to Turkey, they blanked the opener this time around, but then got into difficulties at the second.

Scotland were 6-4 down at the final end, and Muirhead was unable to pull off an attempt at an unlikely angled double with her final stone.

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What is the format?

The nine teams will all play one another in a round-robin competition, with the country top of the standings at the end going straight through to the Olympics.

Those who finish second and third will play each other again, with the winner taking the second qualifying berth.

The loser will then meet the rink who finished fourth in the round-robin standings, with the triumphant nation sealing the final place. Ultimately, a top-four finish is a must.

The women's teams competing are: Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Scotland (will play as Great Britain at the Olympics) and Turkey.

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