|
For immediate
release: 11 February 2015
Lohja, Finland – China, Finland and Slovakia joined Russia in the Page
play-offs following the conclusion of the round-robin stage of the
World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2015 being played at the
Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland.
China’s win against Norway and Russia’s win against Germany in the
morning session means that Russia will play China in the Page 1v2
play-off.
Finland’s 8-4 victory over Scotland and Slovakia’s 8-5 win against
Norway in the afternoon session sees them go into the Page 3v4
play-off.
This is the first time that Finland has qualified for the World
Wheelchair Curling Championship play-off stages and are therefore
guaranteed to finish in their highest ever ranking at this event.
At the bottom of the standings, Norway finished in tenth position and
have been relegated to the World Wheelchair Curling Qualification
event.
Sweden, Germany and Scotland all finished with a record of three wins
and six losses, however as Scotland and Germany beat Sweden during the
round-robin, Sweden ranked below them and have also been relegated.
As a result, Scotland must now play Germany in a tie-breaker, with the
loser relegated along with Sweden and Norway.
Both the 1v2 and 3v4 Page play-off, along with the relegation
tie-breaker, will be played at 15:30 (EET) on Thursday 11 February.
The other scores in the afternoon session saw China defeat Sweden 6-5
while Germany put an end to the USA’s play-off hopes as they won 10-5,
largely thanks to a score of five points in the first end.
Russia meanwhile finished off the round-robin with a 100 percent record
as they defeated defending champions Canada 6-4 to end their pursuit of
a play-off spot.
Earlier, in the morning session of play, a score of three points in the
fourth end helped China on their way to their 5-1 victory against
Norway after seven ends of play, a win which secured their place in the
1v2 play-off against Russia.
After this game, China skip HaiTao Wang said: “Because of how we’ve
been playing this week we were confident that we were going to qualify
and we are very happy that we have. This morning, Norway made some
mistakes that we were able to take advantage of – that was the key to
getting our win.”
Scotland’s game against the USA proved tight, with single point scores
throughout before Scotland claimed a 4-2 victory.
After their win, Scotland skip Aileen Neilson said: “Coming out this
morning we knew that we had to win, so we’re obviously delighted but it
was still a close game. It went right down to nearly the last stone so
we had to dig deep.”
Sweden picked up their third win of the Championship during session
eight as they defeated hosts Finland.
Skip Jalle Jungnell and his team from Sweden picked up a crucial score
of three points in the third end then followed that up by stealing two
points in the fourth end to lead 6-1 by the fourth end break.
Sweden finished off the game with a score of two points in the eighth
end to secure their 8-4 victory.
Germany meanwhile found it tough going against a Russian team who had
yet to lose a game at this Championship.
It didn’t start well for Germany as Russia skip Andrey Smirnov was left
with a draw into the house for three points in the first end. From
there on Russia dominated the game as they went on to win 10-1.
Slovakia also picked up a crucial win against reigning Paralympic and
world champions Canada.
Although Canada took three points from the first end, Slovakia fought
their way back into the game, taking one point from the second end
before they stole three points in the third end.
Slovakia eventually stole another single point in the eighth end to
claim a 7-6 victory, which proved crucial for them in terms of
qualifying for the play-offs later in the day.
SCHEDULE
Thursday 12
February, 15:30 (EET)
Page 1v2:
Russia v China
Page 3v4:
Finland v Slovakia
Relegation
tie-breaker: Scotland v Germany
RESULTS
Session 8:
Norway 1, China 5; USA 2, Scotland 4; Russia 10, Germany 1; Sweden 8,
Finland 4; Canada 6, Slovakia 7.
Session 9:
USA 5, Germany 10; Russia 6, Canada 4; Finland 8, Scotland 4; Slovakia
8, Norway 5; China 6, Sweden 5.
Standings after
round-robin (W-L):
1. Russia 9-0 (To play China in 1v2 Page play-off)
2. China 7-2 (To play Russia in 1v2 Page play-off)
3. Finland 5-4 (To play Slovakia in 3v4 Page play-off)
4. Slovakia 5-4 (To play Finland in 3v4 Page play-off)
5. USA 4-5
6. Canada 4-5
7. Scotland 3-6 (To play Germany in tie-breaker. Loser relegated to
WWhCQ*)
7. Germany 3-6 (To play Scotland in tie-breaker. Loser relegated to
WWhCQ*)
9. Sweden 3-6 (Relegated to WWhCQ*)
10. Norway 2-6 (Relegated to WWhCQ*)
*WWhCQ – World Wheelchair Curling Qualification event
|
No comments:
Post a Comment