7 March 2024

Play-off field complete at the World Wheelchairs

Round-robin action at the World Wheelchairs concluded on Thursday 7 March with three sessions of plays. Ahead of the day’s action, six teams were co-leading the standings on six wins and three losses.

Session 15

In the morning, co-leaders of the standings, Canada and Norway played each other. Canada were leading by 2-0 after two, due to a score of one and then a steal of one in the first two ends. In the third, Norway’s Jostein Stordahl missed his hit-and-stick attempt and Norway gave up two to go down, 0-4. After a similar miss by Stordahl in the fourth, Norway gave up another couple for a 0-6 scoreline at half time.

Canada eventually won by 8-0 in six ends. After the session, it was confirmed that Canada qualified for the play-offs.

Another co-leader of the rankings, Korea met Czechia (2W-7L). Korea were up 4-0 after four due to single steals in all four ends. Korea eventually won by 7-2 and earned a spot in the play-offs.

Latvia, who were also part of the six table-topper teams, met Estonia (1W-8L). Estonia were leading by 3-0 after three.

After a big score of three by Latvia in the fourth, the teams were tied at the break, 3-3.

Estonia were leading the game, 6-4, after seven. In the eighth, Latvia’s Lasmans made a perfect double take-out to sit three before Estonia’s last. Ain Villau came up heavy with his draw, Latvia stole three, won the game by 7-6 and qualified for the play-offs.

After their win, Latvia skip, Ojars Briedis said, “I’m super happy, I can’t describe my feelings. My thoughts before our last stone were like ‘Agris will hit it, no doubt, he’ll do that’. My thoughts before Estonia’s last stone were ‘let’s hope they won’t get into the house, at least we need to get two points’. But we got three.”

Commenting on their play-off qualification, he added, “Because this is the first time, I’m very-very happy!”

In the last game of the morning, Slovakia (5W-4L) played Scotland (2W-7L). Scotland were up 2-0, playing the third. In that end, Slovakia’s Peter Zatko was unsuccessful with his double take-out attempt and Scotland stole three to go up, 5-0. Slovakia scored two right back to be down, 2-5, at half time.

Scotland eventually won by 8-4 and picked up their third win of the week.

Session 16

Three play-off spots were up for grabs before the second-last round-robin session.

Norway (6W-4L) met Sweden (6W-3L), both teams hoping for a win and a place in the play-offs. Norway put a big four on the board in the second to go up, 4-2.

Norway stole singles in both the fourth and fifth for a 6-2 lead and eventually won by 7-6. With this win, Norway earned a place in the play-offs. As results elsewhere were favorable for Sweden, regardless of their last game, they also qualified for the play-offs.

After the game, Norway’s Jostein Stordahl said, “I’m very happy! We have struggled for several years now. We were here in 17 and in 2018 and we won the world championship and silver in the Paralympics, so this arena means a lot to us. And we hope we’ll have a medal this time too!”

Title-defenders China (6W-3L) were playing Scotland (3W-7L) and hoping for a win and with that, play-off qualification. China scored four in the first and stole two in the second when Scotland’s Gregor Ewan came up heavy with his last. After six, China were leading by 6-4.

In the seventh, China scored three, and at that point, Scotland conceded the game. China won by 9-4 and earned a spot in the play-offs.

After their win, China lead Yan Zhuo said, “I’m very happy, but we need to continuously improve. In the next games, I’ll take it easy and do my best!”

United States (4W-5L) played already qualified Korea (7W-3L). Korea were leading by 3-2 after five. In the sixth, United States skip Matthew Thums was heavy with both of his draw attempts and Korea scored four for a 7-2 lead.

After a single steal for Korea in the seven, United States conceded the game. Korea 8, United States 2 is the final result.

In the last game of the afternoon, Estonia (1W-9L) met Italy (4W-5L). Italy had a great start to their game and scored five in the first. In the second, Estonia’s Villau wrecked on a guard with his last to give up two. In the third, Villau was slightly heavy with his last draw attempt to give up another two. Italy were leading by 9-0 after three.

Italy eventually won by 10-3 after seven ends and picked up their fifth win of the week.

Session 17

In the last round-robin session, two play-off teams, Canada and Sweden played each other. Sweden were leading by 2-1 after three. Then, they stole two in the fourth when Canada’s Jon Thurston was heavy with his last. Canada scored three in the seventh to take the lead for the first time, at 6-5. After a Swedish score of one in the eighth, the teams were tied at 6-6.

In the extra end, Canada scored three and won by 9-6.

After getting their eighth win of the week and learning that they got a bye to the semi-finals, Canada skip Mark Ideson said, “We knew how important that game was—it was a tough battle but nice to get the win. Going straight into the semi is important; it gives us a little extra rest and time to talk about how we’re going to strategise against whoever we see next.”

In another game, China met Slovakia. China were leading the game by 4-3 at half time. In the fifth and six end, Slovakia stole singles to take the lead, 5-4. In the seventh, some great stone placement resulted in a big score of five for China and a 9-5 lead. They eventually ran Slovakia out of stones in the eighth.

Elsewhere in the session, United States played Czechia. United States had a dream start to the game and after a score of three in the first, they stole four in the next two ends for 7-0. At half time, they were leading by 7-1. United States eventually won by 11-3 in seven ends and picked up their fifth win.

In the last evening game, Italy met Latvia. The teams were tied at 2-2 after three. Latvia put a big four on the board in the fourth to go up, 6-2. Latvia won by 8-3 in seven ends.

All these results mean that China finished on top of the rankings, while Canada came second. They both earned a spot in the semi-finals. Third-placed Latvia will play sixth-placed Sweden in one qualification game, while fourth Korea will meet fifth Norway in the other qualification game. Both qualification games will take place on Friday 8 March at 14:00.

The winners of these games complete the semi-final field. China will play the winner of Korea versus Norway, while Canada awaits the winner of Latvia versus Sweden. The semi-finals will be played on Friday 8 March at 19:00.

The winners of the semi-finals will play for gold medals and the world title, while the losers of these games will meet for the bronze medals on Saturday 9 March at 11:00.

All times are KST (Korean Standard Time) which is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) +8 hours.

Click here for the final round-robin standings.

Click here for all the results and the playing schedule.

For information about streaming, click here.

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