SCOTLAND'S David Murdoch was left shell-shocked after a double defeat left his medal hopes at the World Curling Championships in the balance.

His Scottish rink, who had previously won four of their five matches, should have breezed past winless China - a team ranked tenth in the world.

But they slumped to a shock 9-7 defeat.

And when they were looking to bounce back against the equally unfancied Czech Republic, ranked only 13th in the world, they slipped up again.

They now can't qualify to the one/two play-off game and face four difficult matches in their bid to reach the knockout stages.

On Wednesday, they simply must beat France before facing Norway, who've only lost once.

They will conclude their group matches on Thursday against Denmark and unbeaten world champions Canada, their conquerors in last year's final.

"We've made life very difficult for ourselves, it's not looking good," said Murdoch, the reigning European champion.

"I can't remember the last time that we lost two in a row like that. You can't blame the conditions, which were perfect. We played some good shots but we had too many slack ones in there and that cost us.

"We've got four very tough games to come now and we'll need to play a lot better to stand a chance."

?Canada lead the standings after ten sessions, with Norway second. Germany, Scotland and the USA are joint third with four wins and three defeats.