Curling star Bruce Mouat kept a promise to his coach overnight to remain on course for Olympic glory .
Mouat and mixed doubles partner Jen Dodds followed up their opening 9-5 defeat of Sweden with a 6-4 win over Canada at Beijing’s Ice Cube.
The win coincided with coach Greg Drummond’s birthday - and his card from the Team GB world champion pairing revealed how confident they are feeling.
“Bruce wrote in his birthday card yesterday, ‘Your present will be two wins’,” said Dodds. “I was like ‘Oh wow, that’s confidence!’ So he’s got his birthday present.”
The Scottish duo became world champions at the turn of the year and lead the way with seven rounds of pool matches to come before the top four advance to Monday’s semi-finals.
Dodds said: “If you said at the start of the week that we were going to be 2-0 having played two great teams in Sweden and Canada, I think anyone in the field would take that."
Mouat added: “It’s a wee bit early to look too far ahead (in terms of qualification), this field is so deep in talent and we will need to raise our game again against Switzerland tonight. But’s it’s a good confidence boost.”
Mouat and Dodds trailed the Canadian duo of John Morris and Rachel Homan 1-0 after the first end and were 4-3 behind with only two left to play.
It was then they shut out their opponents, taking the lead in the eighth and closing the match out in the ninth.
“It was a step up from last night’s game,” admitted Dodds. “We figured out the ice a bit better and it stayed the same speed through the whole game which gave us a lot of trust. We could really sweep the stones to the point we wanted.”
Elsewhere, Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans has returned to the Olympic Village following an emotional appeal.
Meylemans tested positive on arrival in China and was taken by ambulance to an isolation facility, from where she posted an emotional reaction on social media.
Olympic bosses then intervened, offering “appropriate support” and moving her somewhere where she now feels “safe”.
