5 November 2022
Women’s round-robins draw to a close
The women’s teams in A-Division have now completed their eight-game round-robin programme, and while the four semi-finalists were known before they came onto the ice on Friday evening for their last round-robin games, the rankings of one to four have now been finalised.
United States and Canada both finished on seven wins and one loss at the top of the table, so the United States’ 8-6 win over Canada on Thursday meant that they ranked first overall, and Canada were positioned second.
Behind them, Japan and Korea finished on the same 6-2 record, and again, the head-to-head between them came into play to determine the final rankings.
This meant that Japan’s 7-4 win over Korea earlier in the week gave them third place overall, while Korea ranked fourth.
As a result of these rankings, first-placed United States will face fourth-placed Korea in one semi-final on Saturday afternoon, while second-ranked Canada will be up against third-placed Japan.
Despite their loss to United States in their last round-robin game, New Zealand finished clear of the other four teams beneath them on a 4-4 record, to rank fifth and qualify for this season’s LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023, being held in Sandviken, Sweden in March.
This will be a historic first-ever appearance at a world championship for New Zealand women. And to round off a great week for the New Zealanders, earlier, their men qualified for their world championship, for the first time since 2012.
Below New Zealand, Australia beat Hong Kong, by 9-6, for a 3-5 record to rank sixth.
Kazakhstan had a 13-7 win over Brazil for their second win, a result that gives them seventh place on the table. Both these teams will return to next season’s A-Division.
Below them, Hong Kong had just one win, to place eighth. While Brazil finished in ninth place.
Because of a special arrangement caused by COVID-19 difficulties in previous seasons, this women’s field was expanded to nine teams rather than the planned eight.
As next season’s A-Division reverts to the planned eight teams, both eighth-placed Hong Kong and ninth-placed Brazil are now relegated to next season’s B-Division.
B-Division
The women’s B-Division round-robin programme also wrapped up on Friday evening.
Chinese Taipei beat Mexico, by 8-5, to top the B-Division with an unbeaten 6-0 record and now go direct to the B-Division final.
Meanwhile Kenya beat Nigeria, by 14-0, finishing on two wins and four losses to rank third overall and go into the sole semi-final on Saturday morning to face second placed Mexico. Nigeria finished fourth, without a win.
The winner of the B-Division final will be promoted to next season’s A-Division.
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