OLYMPICS: Curling-Edin rues Sweden's lack of 'toughness' as title defence crumbles

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy – Reigning Olympic men’s curling champions Sweden are facing an early exit from the Winter Olympics after winning just one of their six games so far. Skip Niklas Edin admitted that his team has lacked the grit shown by their hungrier rivals.

Sweden’s title defense suffered another blow with Monday’s 7-3 loss to Germany, leaving the team with slim chances of reaching the semi-finals.

“There are a lot of young, hungry teams out there competing harder, ranking higher in the world, and playing more tough playoff games,” said three-time Olympic medallist Edin. “Maybe we don’t have the same toughness. We weren’t sharp enough early on. We definitely wanted to finish stronger in these Olympics, but it is what it is now. We can only try to win our remaining games, play better curling, and enjoy Italy. Right now, it feels kind of empty.”

Sweden’s campaign has also been overshadowed by controversy after they accused Canada of cheating during a game on Friday. Edin said the incident drained his team’s energy.

“We probably didn’t expect the reactions,” he said. “Even though we felt Canada could have acted differently technically, a lot of energy went the wrong way in this event.”

Edin, competing in his fifth Olympics, set a record by playing his 51st game at the Games against Germany, surpassing American John Shuster.

“It’s a testament to how well we’ve done for a long time,” he said. “We’ve had great tournaments before, but this one has been one of our worst. The teams we played against were excellent. Even if we played well, we likely would have lost several games.”

Team Edin will next compete at the World Championships in the United States from March 27 to April 4.

“We’re going to try to come back stronger at the World Championships and hopefully get some results,” Edin said. “If not, we’ll have to look past this and see what’s possible moving forward.” -Reporting by Aadi Nair, editing by Pritha Sarkar/Reuters