MOSCOW, April 4 (R-Sport) - Rank outsider Russia scored its second victory of the men's world curling championships in British Colombia on Thursday, though the excitement was muted by an earlier thrashing from host Canada.
Skip Alexey Drozdov went down 8-5 to Brian Jacobs but regrouped to register a nail-biting 6-5 victory over Japan's Yusuke Morozumi.
The win lifts the Russians, competing in their first-ever major international event, off the bottom of the round-robin table to a 2-7 record.
Drozdov's defeat of Morozumi, aided by a scoring burst of five points in ends six to nine, was all the more surprising seeing as the Japanese skip was coming off a shock 10-8 victory over Jacobs in an 11-end thriller.
Russia's good fortunes will set the team in good stead for its Olympic debut on home ice in Sochi next year.
At the top of the table, David Murdoch's Scotland drew level with Canada on a 7-2 record after edging Sweden 8-7.
The championships run through the end of the week, with the gold medal game on Sunday.
