Pia-Lisa Schöll and Klaudius Harsch beat China's Yang Ying and Ling Zhi 10-8 in their first Group A outing at the Greenacres Curling Club near Howwood.

They are joined at the top of the section's standings by Denmark, 9-3 victors at the expense of Wales, and Ukraine, who defeated Kosovo 8-6.

In Group B, France, Ireland and Turkey all made winning starts.

France overcame Belgium 11-4, while Ireland beat Romania 9-6 and Turkey thrashed Saudi Arabia 12-0.

Groups C and D begun earlier in the evening.

Action in Group C saw Hong Kong defeat Poland 7-2, Italy overcome Kazakhstan 10-4 and Latvia claim a 8-3 victory over Chinese Taipei.

As for Group D, Austria and Belarus both triumphed by a scoreline of 6-5, against South Korea and Slovakia respectively, while The Netherlands thumped Nigeria 12-0.

The final four places for next year’s World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship are up for grabs in Scotland.

The Championship is due to take place in Canadian city Kelowna from April 18 to 25.