5 March 2024

No winless team after day 4 at the World Wheelchairs

Round-robin action continued on Tuesday 5 March at the SD Biosensor World Wheelchair Curling Championship in Gangneung, Korea with three sessions of play.

Session 9

In the morning, title-defenders China (4W-1L) met hosts Korea (4W-1L). In the fourth end, China’s Wang Haitao wasn’t successful with his difficult promotion take-out attempt and Korea stole two for a 3-1 lead at half time. China scored a big three in the seventh to go up, 5-4. In the eighth end, Korea fourth Yang Huitae made a perfect draw with his last to score two and win, 6-5.

Afterwards, Korea lead Yun Heekyeong said, “I’m so happy now, it’s an honour to win against the number one-ranked team in the world. The key to our win was our unity, we played as a team and we concentrated on each shot.”

Elsewhere, Norway (3W-2L) played Italy (3W-2L). Italy were leading by 3-2 after four ends. Italy stole singles in both the fifth and eighth end on the way to their 6-3 win.

Sweden (2W-3L) were hoping to pick up their third win in a row when they met Estonia (1W-4L). The teams were tied at 2-2 after four. Sweden could only score a single in the eighth to tie the game at 4-4 and take it to an extra end. In that end, Estonia’s Ain Villau came up short with his last to give up one and hand the win to Sweden, 5-4.

After the game, Sweden’s Kristina Ulander said, “In the last end, we did a lot of mistakes, we didn’t play so good. But we had a chance to win anyway, so we did our best, it was our fourth player, he saved us today. This game was a real nailbiter.”

Last year’s bronze medallists, Scotland (0W-5L) were still looking for their first win when they met United States (1W-4L). In the third end, Scotland’s fourth Gregor Ewan attempted a difficult take-out for four, but got his angles wrong and tapped a second American stone into scoring position to give up two.

United States were up 5-1, playing the sixth. In that end, United States skip Matthew Thums wrecked on a guard with his last to give up a steal of four, 5-5. Even though Scotland stole a single in the seventh, United States won by 7-6.

Session 10

In the afternoon, United States (2W-4L) met Canada (5W-1L) in the North American classic. United States stole a single in the first end, when Canada’s Jon Thurston couldn’t remove the sole American stone from the house. In the following ends, Canada scored their two with hammer and forced United States to take their single for a 4-2 Canadian lead at half time.

In the fifth, United States scored two. Then, the teams exchanged singles to be tied at 5-5 after seven. In the eighth, Canada’s Jon Thurston wrecked on a guard with his last stone to give up two and hand the victory to United States, 7-5.

After the game, United States second Steve Emt said, “I’m very proud of the team. We started off slow, got a two-win day against two quality opponents. Canada and ourselves, we know each other very well, and it came down to the last stone and fortunately we got a W.

“It was a good game, we had some misses, they had some misses, but there were some great shots all the way around. It was nothing less than what we expect from a game against Canada every time we play them.”

So-far undefeated Latvia (5W-0L) played title-defenders China (4W-2L). In the third end, China had great stone-placement and were already lying four when skip Wang Haitao threw his last. He came up short, and China scored four for a 4-2 lead.

China never let Latvia score more than one afterwards and won by 7-4.

Italy (4W-2L) were looking to pick up their second win of the day when they played Slovakia (2W-3L). In the third end, Slovakia fourth Peter Zatko put a stone on the button that Italy’s Egidio Marchese couldn’t remove with his last. It resulted in a Slovak steal of one and a 2-0 lead for them.

Slovakia were leading by 6-3 after five. In the sixth, Marchese was slightly heavy with his last and gave up a single steal, 7-3. Slovakia eventually won by 7-4.

Afterwards, and all-smiles Slovakia lead Monika Kunkelova said, “I feel very-very-very good! Our time here is very-very nice, the people are very friendly, the organisation is perfect.”

Talking about the game, her skip, Radoslav Duris said, “The key to our win today was scoring four in the fifth end.”

In the last afternoon session, Sweden (3W-3L) met Czechia (1W-4L). Sweden had a great start to the game and were leading by 5-0 at half time. Czechia could only put a single on the board in the sixth end and Sweden won by 10-1 to pick up their fourth consecutive win.

Session 11

In the last session of the day, co-leaders of the standings, Korea and Latvia played each other. Korea scored three in the first and stole two in the second to take an early 5-0 lead. Afterwards, a Latvian line-up change was initiated and alternate Polina Rozkova came to play in place of Sergejs Djacenko. The teams went into the break with 6-2, Korea leading.

Latvia put a big three on the board in the fifth to narrow the gap to a single point. In the last end, Korea fourth Yang Huitae missed his difficult take-out attempt and Korea gave up a steal of two. Latvia won by 8-7, making one of the greatest come-backs of the week.

Afterwards, Rozkova said, “Team Latvia is feeling great! The start of the game wasn’t the best, but then we made a change and we did what we needed to do. Done! Need to rest now and tomorrow, new games!”

Canada (4W-2L) met Scotland (0W-6L). Their last encounter on World Curling ice was in last year’s semi-final, where Canada won by 5-2. Scotland were leading the game by 2-1 after three. In the fourth, Canada’s Jon Thurston attempted a hit-and-stay for one, but his shooter rolled out and Canada gave up three.

In the second half, Canada could only score a single and conceded the game after seven ends, 8-2. This was Scotland’s first victory of the week.

After the game, Scotland second Robert McPherson said, “I feel really good. That’s a monkey off the back. We played really well, I think we were in control from the start, I’m really happy with that.”

Talking about their upcoming games, he added, “We’re trying to win as many as we can and trying to win the remaining games!”

Elsewhere in the session, Slovakia met Norway, both teams on a won three, lost three record. Norway started the game in an excellent way and after a score of three in the first and single steals in both the second and the third, they were leading by 5-0. They eventually won by 7-3.

In the last session of the day, Estonia met Czechia, both teams looking for their second win of the week. The teams were tied at 2-2 after four and at 4-4 after seven. In the eighth, Czechia put two on the board and won, 6-4.

Click here for the standings after day four.

Click here for all the results and the playing schedule.

For information about streaming, click here.

Engage with the World Curling Federation during the SD Biosensor World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2024 on TikTok, X, Instagram, Facebook, and Weibo and by searching the hashtags #WWhCC and #wheelchaircurling