CURLING: World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2013 – Day 1 CORRECTED STANDINGS ADDS RUSSIA
For immediate release: 16 February 2013
Sochi, Russia – Canada got off to a strong start on the opening day of
the World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2013 in Sochi, Russia, winning both
of their games on the first day of play at the Ice Cube Curling Center in the
Olympic Park.
The Canadian side, led by Skip Jim Armstrong, beat 2012 silver
medallists Korea 7-1 and then Scotland 8-3. The Canadians consolidated their
win against the Scots in the sixth end, when a draw by Skip Aileen Neilson hit
a Canadian guard and raised it into the house for a steal of four.
“We were actually a little slow out of the gate,” said Armstrong about
the first half of their game against Korea in the morning. “This has been a
trial year, getting ready for next year, so we’ve not had too many
opportunities to play together. We have a couple of new faces on the team this
year and I think we will get stronger and used to each other. The facility here
is great, they’ve done wonders with the ice.”
Norway, Sweden and the USA also won their opening games and only had one
game each to play on Saturday. Norway beat Slovakia 7-1. For Norwegian skip
Rune Lorentsen, it was a satisfying win which he described as revenge, as their
opening game of the 2012 championship was also against Slovakia but they lost
that game and found themselves having to re-qualify for the world championships
last November.
Swedish Skip Jalle Jungnell was delighted with their opening 8-1 win
over reigning world champions and hosts Russia.
“This was a really good start!” said Jungnell, “it looks now like we
beat Russia easily, but no – that was not the case. It was actually really
close. They lost it in one end where we took two from them and then the game
ran away for them.”
Russia was back on winning form by the afternoon. In a re-match of the
2012 World Championship final, Russian Skip Andrey Smirnov led his side to an
8-4 win over Haksung Kim’s Korean team. Smirnov said he and his team had spent
the break between the morning and afternoon sessions analysing the game against
Sweden so as not to make the same mistakes.
The USA won their opening game against China 7-4. The Chinese struck out
an early lead but the Americans got back into the game in the fourth end taking
three points to tie the game up and turn it round.
US Skip Patrick McDonald said “the first couple of ends of this game
were a bit rocky. But in our preparations for this, we worked on how not to
panic and take things shot by shot. In the fourth end we ended up with two
biters and I was able to draw for three. Having missed some of my draws
earlier, I took a deep breath and got right back into the game. China is a
strong team. They are really good at forcing a take-out game and now they are
better at doing raises and draws. They’ve developed finesse and weight control.
I like playing them!”
But for China, 2012 Bronze Medallists, it was a tough start to the
event. After losing to USA in the morning, they were defeated again by
newcomers Finland 8-4 in the afternoon.
The Finns found winning form after losing their opening game 10-4 to
Scotland. Finnish Skip Vesa Hellman put their first game defeat down to nerves:
“It is the first time that we are here at the worlds, it is quite historical.
We don’t have enormous expectations at this event. We need to make it to 7th
or 8th place to get to the Paralympics.”
Standings after Round Robin Session 2
Rank - Team - Games/Wins-Losses
1. CAN - Canada 2/2-0
2. NOR – Norway 1/1-0
2. SWE – Sweden 1/1-0
2. USA – USA 1/1-0
5. FIN – Finland 2/1-1
5. RUS – Russia 2/1-1
5. SCO – Scotland 2/1-1
8. SVK – Slovakia 1/0-1
9. CHN – China 2/0-2
9. KOR – Korea 2/0-2
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 of all games on SHEET C 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
Media Contacts Onsite:
Joanna Kelly
WCF Media Relations
Mikhail Zaytsev
Sochi 2014 Press Operations
Media &
Communications
World Curling
Federation
Email: media@worldcurling.org
Tel: +372 592 442
35
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