CURLING: Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games Wheelchair
Curling: Day 3 Roundup
For immediate release: 10 March 2014
Sochi, Russia – Despite losing their unbeaten record this
afternoon, Canada remain at the top of the standings alongside hosts Russia at
the half-way point in the round-robin following the third day of play at the
2014 Paralympic Winter Games wheelchair curling competition.
Taking place in the Ice Cube Curling Centre in Sochi,
Russia, the morning session of play saw defending Paralympic champions Canada
come up against North American neighbours USA.
Canada skip Jim Armstrong made a crucial breakthrough in
the third end with his first stone as he made a draw around a guard. USA skip
Patrick McDonald responded by attempting a difficult raise which didn’t pay
off.
This left Canadian skip Jim Armstrong with a draw to
score two points and take a 3-1 lead after three ends.
In the second half of the game Canada took control,
taking two points after the break, in the fifth end, before stealing two single
points in the sixth and seventh ends.
With the score at 7-2 the USA conceded the game to give
Canada their fourth win of the competition.
Afterwards, Canada third Ina Forrest said: “I think as a
team we played pretty well. The ice suited us and we could hit again, so that
was kind of nice. When it gets a little heavier you have to have a lot more
strength to make hits so this made it a little bit easier."
Hosts Russia kept up the pressure on Canada as they
defeated Korea. The game was still tight going into the later stages, with
Korea leading 5-4 going into the eighth and final end.
With the last stone advantage however, Russian skip Andrey
Smirnov was able to hit the only Korean stone in the house to score three
points and win the game 7-5.
Finland went into their game against Norway still looking
for their first win. The game proved tight throughout, with the scores tied 3-3
at the fourth end break.
The Finns kept battling throughout the game and it almost
paid off as Norway gave up a steal of one point to Finland in the eighth end to
tie the score at 6-6 after skip Rune Lorentsen was heavy with his final shot.
The Norwegian skip made amends in the extra end however
as he made a double take-out to score two points that sealed their 8-6 victory.
After coming of the ice, Norway skip Rune Lorentsen said:
“I think we made it a little more exciting than it needed to be. I was a little
bit nervous at the end there when we added an extra end on for ourselves to
play. In the eighth end we just had to clear the sheet (to win the game) and we
could not do that. I missed my last shot by two or three centimetres, so that
is what happened. That's the way it goes."
The fourth game of the morning session was between last
year’s World Wheelchair Curling Championship silver medallists, Sweden, and
bronze medallists China.
In this game, China raced into the lead, taking four
points from the first two ends. Although Sweden scored one point of their own
in the third end, China took a substantial step towards their victory in the
fourth end.
China skip Haitao Wang made a precise take-out around a
guard to score three points which left the score at 7-1 at the fourth end
break.
China picked up a steal of one point in the sixth end
before Sweden gained three points from the next two ends before they decided to
concede defeat, after seven ends of play, with the score 8-4 to China.
Afterwards, China skip Haitao Wang said: “We have a very
good mood and we won with confidence. Today compared to the other day, we
played much better. We never really had that much confidence (in earlier
games), but each of us thought of winning the game (today), so that added confidence
helped us win as a team."
In the afternoon, Canada lost their 100% record as Norway
made a late comeback to defeat them in an extra end.
Norway found themselves 4-1 down after only three ends
but managed to level the game in the eighth end by stealing one point to take
the game into an extra end, their second of the day.
Although Canada had last stone advantage, Norway set up
the end well as their lead, Terje Rafdal, positioned a guard that protected a
Norwegian stone that was sitting shot.
Norway continued to protect this stone throughout the end
and after Canada skip Jim Armstrong failed with a raise take-out attempt with
his last stone, Norway stole two points to win the game 8-6.
Following their comeback, Norway skip Rune Lorentsen
said: “We played with too many faults in the first half - it was miss after
miss. We had opportunities all the way and missed them.”
He continued: “As long as we keep winning most of our
games, we are motivated. We don't have any medals from the Paralympics, so
that's our goal this year. When we had two defeats, it didn't look that way,
but today it is much better."
Like Norway, China made it two wins from two today as
they won their game against Korea.
China took a clear advantage in the first half of the game
as they went into the fourth end break 4-2 ahead.
In the fifth end they further extended their lead when
their skip, Haitao Wang, made a draw through a narrow port to the button, to
sit behind cover.
When Korea’s Jong-Pan Kim, playing as skip today, failed
with a hit and roll attempt with his last stone, China eventually scored three
points to extend their lead to 7-2
Korea finally conceded after seven ends of play after
China stole again, one point in the sixth end and another three points in the
seventh end, to make the final score China 11, Korea 2.
Slovakia meanwhile lost their 100% record as they were
defeated by Great Britain, both teams having had a bye in the morning session
of play.
Great Britain were already 6-2 ahead after five ends
before Slovakian skip Radoslav Duris gave away a steal of four points to Great
Britain after he was short with his final draw.
The teams played one more end where Great Britain stole
another two points, at which point Slovakia conceded with the final score 12-2.
After the game, Great Britain skip Aileen Neilson said:
“I came to the party today. The guys, all through the competition, have been a
great support, but it's nice when I can come and actually play the way I know
that I can play.”
Hosts Russia were the other winners in this session of
play as they defeated the USA.
With the backing of a large home support, Russia took
three points from the first two ends, while USA could only respond with one
point in the third end.
Russia skip Andrey Smirnov then made a take-out around
two guards to score two points and take a 5-1 lead going into the fourth end
break.
Although the USA tried their best to get back into the
game, stealing three points from the last two ends, it was too little too late
and Russia won 6-5.
Following their win, Russia skip Andrey Smirnov said:
"Almost the whole game we were dictating the play. We controlled the
game."
On the pressure of playing in front of a large home
crowd, he said: “At first we weren't used to it but now it helps us. It
reassures us, the crowd supports us. We didn't expect such a large crowd so
it's a big surprise."
Play begins tomorrow at 09:30 followed by another session
at 15:30 (both times MSK).
RESULTS
Session 5: Korea 5, Russia 7; USA 2, Canada 7; Finland 6,
Norway 8 (extra end), China 8, Sweden 4. (Bye – Great Britain and Slovakia)
Session 6: Slovakia 2, Great Britain 12; Korea 2, China
11; Russia 6, USA 5; Canada 6, Norway 8 (extra end). (Bye – Finland and Sweden)
STANDINGS
Standings after 6 sessions of play:
1. Canada 4-1
1. Russia 4-1
3. Great Britain 3-1
3. Slovakia 3-1
5. China 3-2
5. Norway 3-2
7. Sweden 1-3
8. Korea 1-4
8. USA 1-4
10. Finland 0-4
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