Eve Muirhead’s team suffer agonising defeat to Switzerland in round-robin opener

Eve Muirhead’s quest for a curling medal at her fourth Olympics got off to a bad start as the Great Britain women’s team suffered a 6-5 extra-end defeat to Switzerland.

Muirhead missed a simple draw with her last stone of an extra end to miss her chance to get the round-robin campaign up and running with a win.

Muirhead, whose four-athlete team includes Jennifer Dodds, who missed out on a mixed medal earlier this week, refused to be too downhearted about the defeat.

“They are never easy to judge,” Muirhead said of the crucial shot. “Unfortunately it didn’t come off. If I ever had a shot like that again, I’m confident I would make it.”

Muirhead, who won a bronze medal as skip of a different team in Sochi in 2014, reached Beijing under the radar after being forced to battle through a final qualifying event.

But she believes her inexperienced squad has the right mentality to move into contention for one of the top four play-off slots and with it a shot at a potential second Olympic medal.

“There’s a lot of hunger here,” added Muirhead. “A fourth Olympic Games is something that you dream of coming to.

“I’m very glad that I’ve got the opportunity to be here with four girls at their first Olympic Games.

“I’m proud of them, how much they’ve come along and fought and they deserve their spot in the team.”

Muirhead’s campaign was set to continue later on Thursday with their second group match against Sweden.