Japan dealt severe blow in bid for last 4 in curling

Japan dropped a crucial game to Switzerland 10-4 in eight ends in the women’s curling tournament at the Vancouver Olympics on Monday. Japan took its fourth loss in seven games and fell into a fifth-place tie with Germany in the 10-team round-robin standings.

Switzerland sat in fourth place with a 4-3 record. The top four teams will move on to the knockout stage of the tournament.

The Swiss curlers had four points in the fourth end to extend their lead to 6-2 before adding two each in the sixth and eighth ends.

‘‘Those four points really hurt us. We might’ve had a chance of turning things around if we limited them to two or so in that fourth end,’’ said Japanese skip Moe Meguro. ‘‘I’ll work on my delivery for the remaining two games to keep our hopes alive for a place in the last four.’‘

Host Canada (6-1) regained sole possession of the lead after a 6-2 win over defending champion Sweden (5-2). World champion China (5-3) remained in third place.