China saw no hope of clinching the women's ice hockey title with straight losses in the round-robin matches at the 6th Asian Winter Games on Friday.

The Chinese women, ranked atop in Asia and seventh in the world, took an early lead at 6:06 but were overtaken by Kazakhstan and lost it 3-1.

The Kazaks, second-ranked in Asia, will face Japan in the final round, which decides the winner.

In the men's tournament, DPR Korea eased past the United Arab Emirates 9-2 to lock the fifth position. In the match for the seventh place, Kuwait trounced Malaysia 10-2 while Thailand edged out Hong Kong, China 4-3 to settle on the ninth position.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2007)