Winter Olympics: Great Britain's women's curlers to play for curling gold

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Hosts: Beijing, China Dates: 4-20 February
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Great Britain's women's curlers will play for Olympic gold after edging past Sweden 12-11 in an extra end after a tense and compelling semi-final.

British skip Eve Muirhead pulled off a remarkable score of four in the ninth end for an 11-8 lead, but counterpart Anna Hasselborg showed incredible nerve to secure three with her last stone.

That forced a decider, and Britain took one with their last stone for victory.

They will face Japan in Sunday's final at 01:05 GMT.

Before that, the men's team will play Sweden in their gold-medal match at 06:45 on Saturday.

It means the British team will end the Olympics with at least two medals after fears there would be no podium finishes for the first time since 1992.

Muirhead, 31, began her fourth Olympics by carrying the flag for the British team, and was determined to end it with the gold medal that had eluded her after bronze in Sochi in 2014, and fourth place in Pyeongchang four years later.

She will now get the chance to emulate Rhona Howie's gold-medal feat in Salt Lake City 20 years ago, against a Japanese side who stunned world champions Switzerland in the other semi-final.

Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds, and Hailey Duff played an amazing penultimate end when 8-7 down, culminating in a fantastic tap shot from the British skip to register an amazing four - and a three-score lead.

But Hasselborg's Swedish rink got the better of them at this stage of the last Olympics, and looked to have ruined the party with the very last stone of the end.

Hasselborg delivered a perfect take out to score three, make it 11-11 and earn a chance to salvage the match.

However, the saving grace for Britain was they had last-stone advantage, and they showed the required nerve to keep the house wide open to ensure a crucial final score of one for victory.

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