OSLO, April 23 (Xinhua) -- China's mixed doubles curling pair of Fu Yiwei and You Dejia lost 9-7 to Italy's Alice Cobelli and Amos Mosaner on Monday, marking their first defeat in Group C at the 2019 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships in Stavanger, Norway.

The Chinese duo, winners of the Latvian Mixed Doubles Curling Cup earlier this season, opened their worlds campaign on Saturday with a convincing 13-2 victory over Nigeria before making it two wins out of two by beating Australia 5-2 on Sunday.

Both China and Italy are now tied with a 2-1 record, trailing their counterparts from Wales, who stay undefeated after beating Nigeria 10-4 on Monday and now sit atop the group.

Also in Group C, Australia earned their first win, overwhelming Croatia 10-0 to move up to sixth place among the group's eight teams, and France beat the Czech Republic 10-6.

"We've been working hard the last couple games and had some unlucky breaks," said Australia's Dean Hewitt, who attributed the victory to good communication between himself and teammate Tahli Gill.

The 2019 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships runs until April 27, and features 48 teams across six groups.