Netherlands recorded their first LGT World Men’s win on Tuesday morning in the Orleans Arena when they beat Italy 11-9.
There were two other games in the morning session, where Sweden defeated Czech Republic, by 8-4, and Finland beat Korea, 11-4.
Italy versus Netherlands
Italy opened the scoring in this game, when Netherlands skip, Wouter Goesgens was only able to remove one Italian shot stone with his final shot, giving up a steal of one point.
Italy then took a commanding lead in the third end when skip, Joel Retornaz, played a draw into the four-foot for a score a five points and a 6-1 lead.
Netherlands began their fightback with a steal of three points in the fifth end, after Retornaz was slightly heavy with his final draw, cutting Italy’s lead at the break to 6-5.
Then in the ninth end, Goesgens was left with an open draw to the house to score three and level the game at 9-9 going into the tenth.
Retornaz was slightly wide on his final hit, causing his shooter to roll out of scoring position, to give up a steal of two points and give Netherlands the 11-9 win.
A delighted Wouter Goesgens said afterwards, “It feels pretty good. Happy with the fight, my team kept faith and it paid off this time so that’s great. First we gave away a five — that’s painful — but we knew we were throwing well so we just kept it going and stole three.”
“We tied it up in the ninth and then stole another two in the tenth. I think we were smart playing the sides [of the sheet], one was a little straighter and one curled a little bit more.”
“I’m not surprised his [final] hit went straighter, mine also didn’t curl. We were throwing hack weight and it’s just dead straight.”
Sweden versus Czech Republic
Sweden continued their return to form with a win over Czech Republic on Tuesday morning.
After giving up a steal one point in the first end, Sweden took control of the game, scoring two points in the second to take the lead. A further two in the fourth end, when Edin played a hit-and-stay with his final stone, gave Sweden a lead they would hold the remainder of the game.
Sweden played a textbook game from this point forward, forcing Czech Republic to single-point scores, while scoring two points when they had last stone advantage.
In the ninth end, Edin played a take-out to score another two after which Czech Republic conceded defeat with the score 8-4 to Sweden.
Korea versus Finland
Finland faced Korea in this session and stole the opening point in the first end after Korean skip, Kim Soo-Hyuk was slightly heavy with a draw when facing four Finnish counters.
The teams traded single point scores in the next two ends to level the score at 4-4.
In the seventh end, Finland piled stones into the house, then with his final shot, Finland’s skip Kalle Kiiskinen played a take-out to score five points and take a 9-4 lead.
Finland increased their lead in the eighth end, when sitting two shot stones, Korean skip Kim flashed his final take-out attempt, to give up a steal of two points. Korea then conceded, with the final score 11-4 to Finland.
Afterwards, Kiiskinen said, “We are pretty happy with three wins and three losses so far. We were hoping to get one good end with the hammer and in seven we played a couple of really good shots and I had a pretty easy shot for five – I should have made it for six, but happy for five! It’s always great to play in the big arenas of course, it’s not easy all the time, the opponents are really tough.”
Session nine results: Sweden 8-4 Czech Republic; Korea 4-11 Finland; Italy 9-11 Netherlands.
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