CURLING: World Wheelchair Curling Championship
2013 – Day 5
For immediate release: 20 February 2013
Sochi, Russia – Canada, Sweden and USA have
qualified for the final stages of the World Wheelchair Curling Championship
2013 in Sochi, Russia.
With one day of round robin play still to go at
the Ice Curling Curling Center, venue for the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic
Winter Games, the focus will be on the fourth playoff spot and which team will
fill that.
Sweden won both their games on Wednesday
beating Canada 8-7 in the morning and Slovakia 8-2 in the rescheduled session
from earlier in the week.
Speaking after the Canada game, Swedish skip
Jalle Jungnell said: “We knew before the game that we had to make a lot of
draws today, so we were prepared for that. I think we were very good in the
first end with our draws. We got a grip on them. It seems like we had control
of the game. But as usual we like to make things a bit exciting! So we had one
end when Glenn [Ikonen] missed one and I missed one and then they got the
three!”
“Full marks to them today,” admitted Canadian
skip Jim Armstrong on Sweden’s performance. He added: “the ice was a little
tricky and they got on to it quicker than we did and we ended up chasing them.
It’s a tough game when you are playing catch up.” The Canadians went on to win
their afternoon game against Finland 8-2.
Team USA picked up another two wins. US Skip
Patrick McDonald was heavy with an open draw for four in the eighth end of
their game against Finland and took three to tie the game and go to an extra
end. Finland missed their last shot and the Americans stole one for an 8-7 win.
The USA went on to beat Korea 7-3.
China also won both their games and kept
themselves in the mix for the final playoff spot. Haitao Wang’s team won their
morning game against Asian rivals Korea 9-4 and then beat Norway 7-4 at night.
Afterwards Wang said he had been really nervous all day as so much was at
stake. With four wins and three losses and still two games to play, Wang said
he had to keep focussed.
Hosts Russia won their game against Scotland
2-1 but they were beaten in turn 9-5 by Norway and sit on four wins and four
losses. After being defeated by the hosts, Scotland went on to lose their game
against Slovakia 5-2.
The Koreans are still looking for a win and
avoid relegation to the next WCF World Wheelchair Championship qualification
event set for autumn 2014.
Standings after 10 Round Robin Sessions
Rank - Team – Games played/Wins-Losses
1. CAN - Canada 8/7-1 (qualified for playoffs)
2. SWE – Sweden 7/6-1 (qualified for playoffs)
2. USA – USA 7/6-1 (qualified for playoffs)
4. CHN – China 7/4-3
5. RUS – Russia 8/4-4
6. FIN – Finland 8/3-5
6. SCO – Scotland 8/3-5
8. NOR – Norway 7/2-5
8. SVK – Slovakia 7/2-5
10. KOR – Korea 7/0-7
Team Canada |
The ten teams will play a round robin. Playoff
and semifinals take place on Friday 22nd with the Bronze and Gold
medal games scheduled for 09:30 and 15:30 local time (MSK – Moscow Standard
Time) on Saturday 23rd.
Further qualification points for the 2014
Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia will be awarded at the end of this
year’s world championship. Only ten teams will qualify for the Games. For more
information visit: http://www.worldcurling.org/curling-at-the-paralympics
Results, news and photos from the
World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2013 can be seen here on the event
website: http://wwhcc2013.curlingevents.com
Follow live scores and shot by shot
here: http://wwhcc2013.curlingevents.com/livescores
Live coverage on Thursday 21
February will be of games on SHEET B – USA-RUS and SWE-FIN - this can be viewed worldwide
here: http://russiasport.ru
World
Curling Federation Wheelchair Curling Events Facebook: Go hit ‘like’ to keep
updated: http://www.facebook.com/WorldWheelchairCurlingChampionships
END
Notes to Editors
About Wheelchair Curling:
·
Wheelchair
curling is similar in many ways to its able-bodied parent game, except that no
sweeping takes place, and each game consists of eight instead of ten ends.
·
More
information about Wheelchair Curling see: http://www.worldcurling.org/wheelchair-curling
and http://www.worldcurling.org/curling-at-the-paralympics
About
the World Curling Federation:
- The World
Curling Federation (WCF) is the International Sport Federation governing
the Olympic Winter Sport of Curling and the Paralympic Winter Sport of
Wheelchair Curling.
·
The WCF represents curling internationally by facilitating the
co-operation and mutual understanding of a network of 50 member associations
·
The
WCF facilitates the growth of curling, which is carried out through a series of
World Championship competitions and official WCF events, camps and courses and
financial support programmes.
- The WCF
is one of seven International Sports Federations currently part of the
Winter Olympic Programme.
- For more
information visit http://www.worldcurling.org
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