Players and coach of Sweden react during the awarding ceremony for men's curling in the 24th World Winter Universiade at Harbin, capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 27, 2009. Sweden beat Norway 8-7 in the final and claimed the title of the event. (Xinhua/Chen Kai) Photo Gallery>>>

    HARBIN, Northeast China, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Sweden edged Norway in men's curling final to take the final gold of the Universiade curling events on Friday.

    In the three-hour competition, Sweden won a good start with 2-0 in the first end. The games got increasingly tight as Norway trailed closely in the following ends and stood 3-4 to Sweden after the first five ends.

Players of Sweden celebrate after winning the men's curling final against Norway in the 24th World Winter Universiade at Harbin, capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 27, 2009. Sweden won 8-7 and claimed the title of the event. (Xinhua/Chen Kai) Photo Gallery>>>

    The two teams held a 7-7 tie after the ten ends, and had to go for an extra end to decide which is the final winner.

    Sweden got one decisive point in the extra end to post a 8-7 victory over Norway.

Players of Sweden competes during the men's curling final against Norway in the 24th World Winter Universiade at Harbin, capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 27, 2009. Sweden won 8-7 and claimed the title of the event. (Xinhua/Chen Kai) Photo Gallery>>>

    The two teams advanced to the men's final after defeating China 8-7 and upsetting South Korea 5-2 in Thursday's semi-finals, respectively.

    In the women's final earlier Friday, China edged over Canada 6-5 to bag gold, marking the best-ever achievements of the host in international curling events.

    The Chinese women's curling already nailed ticket for the 2010 Vancuvor Olympics after taking silver at the 2008 World Championships.

    Altogether ten of men's and women's teams participated in the Universiade curling events, which concluded here on Friday afternoon.

    Unlike the World Championships, the top four in the round robin draw of the Universiade would breeze into the semi-finals, in which the first against the fourth and the second against the third for the two seats of the final.

    A curling match normally has ten ends, but a team may concede earlier if it has no chance to come back.

    The rock-sliding sport, originated in Scotland more than five hundred years ago, was often referred to the "chess on ice" due to its complex nature of stone placement and shot selection. The game was promoted as an Olympic medal sport in 1998.