6 March 2024

Six teams on six wins before the last day of round robin

The SC Biosensor World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2024 continued with three more sessions of round-robin play on Wednesday 6 March.

Session 12

In the morning, table-toppers Latvia (6W-1L) met Canada (4W-3L). Canada were leading the game at half time by 5-2, mostly due to a big score of three in the third. Canada scored two in the fifth and stole two more in the sixth for a 9-2 lead. At this point, Latvia conceded the game.

Title-defenders China (5W-2L) met Italy (4W-3L). China started the game in an exceptional manner and scored four in the first end. In the second, Italy skip Egidio Marchese was light with his draw attempt and China stole two, 6-0.

After a big score of three in the fourth, China were leading by 9-2. They won by 12-2 in six ends.

Afterwards, China skip Wang Haitao said, “I’m very happy about the game, all our team members played well today. We’ll have three games later and we’ll do our best in those as well.”

Elsewhere in the session, Sweden (4W-3L) met United States (3W-4L). Sweden lost their first three games of the event, but won the last four. United States had had three wins so far, all over last year’s medallists.

The teams were tied at 3-3 at half time. United States were leading by 5-4, playing the eighth. In that end, Sweden’s Marcus Holm drew his last onto the back-twelve, and a measure was needed to confirm the score. It confirmed two points for Sweden and a 6-5 Swedish win.

In the last morning game, Slovakia (3W-4L) met Czechia (2W-5L). Slovakia started with a score of three in the first end, which set the tone of the game. They were leading by 4-1 at half time and eventually won by 6-3.

Session 13

In the afternoon, Latvia (6W-2L) wanted to improve on their record for the day when they met Slovakia (4W-4L). Slovakia stole a single for a 2-0 lead in the third end when Latvia’s Agris Lasmans missed his take-out. In the eighth, Lasmans made a perfect take-out for three and a 5-5 score. In the extra end, Lasmans wasn’t successful with his double take-out attempt and Slovakia won, 7-5, without needing to throw their last.

Hosts Korea (5W-2L) met Norway (4W-3L). After an exchange of single scores, Korea stole singles in four consecutive ends for a 5-1 lead after six. In the next two ends, Norway scored two and then stole two to take the game to an extra end, 5-5. In that end, Korean fourth Yang Huitae had a very difficult draw for the win, but came up a bit heavy and handed Norway the win, 6-5.

Afterwards, a very happy Norway second, Ole Fredrik Syversen said, “It was a tough game, we were under 5-1 after six ends. We said to each other ‘believe it’, and we believed and we took two, made a nice steal of two and in the last end, they were a bit unlucky. We are quite happy, very happy!

“It was a very important game because of the play-offs. We are a strong team, we are strong mentally!”

Canada wanted to continue where they left off in the morning, when they met Czechia (2W-6L). Czechia were leading by 4-3 at half time. The turning point came in the fifth end, when Czechia’s Dana Selnekovicova threw both of her stones through the house and Canada scored seven to go up, 10-4. After a steal of three in the sixth, Canada won by 13-4 to pick up their sixth win of the week.

After the game, Canada skip Mark Ideson said, “It gives us some momentum for sure. We felt good today and we stuck to our game plan, and it worked out really well.”

Talking about the seven-ender, he added, “To be honest, the end wasn’t really looking like it was going to turn into that. We got a bit lucky, they got a bit unlucky, but in the end there was just a bunch of yellow rocks everywhere. I’ve never seen or been part of a seven-ender before so that was pretty unusual.”

In the final game of the afternoon, Scotland met Estonia, both teams looking for their second win of the week. The teams were tied at 2-2 after four. In the fifth, Estonia’s Ain Villau wrecked on a guard with his attempted take-out and it opened the floor for a big score of four for Scotland. Gregor Ewan made no mistake with his last draw and Scotland scored four for a 6-2 lead. Scotland eventually won by 6-4 and picked up their second win of the week.

Session 14

In the evening session, co-leaders of the rankings, China (6W-2L) met Norway (5W-3L) and both teams were looking to pick up their second win of the day. Norway were leading by 3-2 at half time. In the sixth, Norway stole two when China’s Wang Haitao was unsuccessful with his take-out attempt.

In the seventh, China scored three to limit their deficit to a single point, 5-6. China stole a single in the eighth to take the game to an extra end. In that end, Wang was unsuccessful with his take-out attempt with his last and Norway won, 7-6.

Hosts, Korea (5W-3L) played Italy (4W-4L). The teams were tied at 3-3 after four ends. Korea were leading by 5-4, playing the eighth. In that eighth, Italy’s Egidio Marchese missed his last take-out attempt and Korea didn’t need to throw their last. Korea won by 6-4 and picked up their sixth win.

Sweden (5W-3L) attempted to pick up their sixth win and get closer to a play-off spot when they played Scotland (2W-6L). Sweden were leading by 4-1 at the break, mostly due to a steal of one in the second and a score of two in the fourth.

In the fifth, Sweden stole a single for a 5-1 lead. They eventually ran Scotland out of stones and picked up their sixth win of the week, 6-2.

United States (3W-5L) met Estonia (1W-7L). Estonia stole two in the second when United States skip Matthew Thums wasn’t successful with his double take-out attempt. United States scored three right back to tie the game at 3-3 after three.

In the fourth, United States stole three when Estonia’s Ain Villau attempted a hit-and-stay, but his shooter rolled out. After a single steal in the fifth, the Americans were leading, 7-3. United States eventually won by 9-3 after six ends.

Click here for the standings after day five.

Click here for all the results and the playing schedule.

For information about streaming, click here.

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