VERNON, B.C. -- Japan's Moe Meguro secured a playoff tiebreaker game for her team with an 8-7 extra end win over China's Bingyu Wang here at the 2008 Ford World Womens Curling Championship Thursday afternoon.

Japan stole three in the fifth end to carry a 5-2 lead into the break, but China refused to yield and battled back to tie the game with steals in the ninth and tenth ends.

But in the end, Meguro needed only to chip a Chinese counter out of the back of the eight-foot to secure the critical victory.

The Japanese win combined with an 8-6 Denmark loss to Sweden means both those teams advance to the playoff tiebreaker round. What's still to be determined is if Sweden will also join them.

The Swedes play Canada's Jennifer Jones on the final round-robin draw this evening. A win for Sweden would give them the same 7-4 record as Denmark and Japan and create the need for two playoff tiebreaker games.

Canada, on the other hand, needs a win to guarantee themselves a berth in the page playoff 1 vs 2 game on Friday.

In other games Thursday afternoon, USA went out on a winning note, stealing a 7-6 extra end win over Russia. The Amercians finish their round-robin at 6-5. Russia is 4-6 heading into a game against Switzerland Thursday evening.

In the only other game Thursday afternoon, a three-man Scottish team defeated Italy 5-4 in an extra end to improve to 2-8.

The Scots played shorthanded because of an internal dispute. After losing their eighth straigh game to Japan Wednesday evening, the Scottish coaching staff asked skip Gail Munro to sit out the Italy game to allow alternate Lynn Cameron to play.

Scottish national coach Derek Brown said Munro agreed, but then Scottish third Lyndsay Wilson said she wouldn't play if Munro didn't. Brown said he offered to let Munro play at that point to ensure the Scots had a full complement, but then Munro also declined.

That left the Scots with no alternative but to play with three players, Brown said. "I've never had a situation where players refused to go on the ice," Brown said. "It's very disappointing."

Brown said Munro and Wilson may face disciplinary action from the Royal Caledonian Curling Club when they return home.

Brown said Scotland would again use a three-man team for their final game Thursday evening against Czech Republic.

In the only other game Thursday evening, China plays Germany.

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