China, United States and Canada secure their place in the play-offs

The Pan Continental Championships round-robin programme passed the halfway mark on Tuesday’s third day of competition. In the men’s A Division, after three days of competition and five round-robin sessions, the men’s play-off picture is starting to emerge.

Defending champions Canada had two wins – following up a morning 7-5 victory over United States with another 7-5 win in the evening, over Japan. These results maintain Canada’s unbeaten record after five games, and qualifies them for the weekend play-offs.

After his second win, Canada skip Brad Gushue simply said: “I think it’s been going great so far – better than expected.”

Canada’s Brad Gushue © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

China beat Japan by 5-4 in their morning game but then went on to lose by 6-8 to United States in the evening. These results meant that these two teams were tied on four wins and one loss – good enough for them to secure their places in the play-offs.

Despite their two losses – by 4-5 to China and then 5-7 to Canada, Japan stay in play-off contention in fourth place on three wins and two losses. Two wins – beating Chinese Taipei by 11-2 and then New Zealand by 8-6 – keep Australia in the play-off picture too.

After his successful day, Australian skip Hugh Milliken said: “There’s a few more important games ahead, but any win is a great win.

“Our goal coming in was to make the world championship. If we win the next two, I think we’re there, if we win one of the next two, I think we’re pretty close to being there.”

Australia after their win against New Zealand © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

In the evening session, Korea, still looking for their first win, opened with a score of seven in the first end against Chinese Taipei before going on to win by 19-1 in just six ends. Earlier, New Zealand had beaten Korea by 9-1, as these two teams now battle to avoid the relegation slot.

Women’s action

The women’s A Division had only one session on Tuesday and after those games, Canada, Japan and Korea emerged as joint leaders, on four wins and no losses.

This session offered up some big scores. China opened the scoring against Mexico in the first end of their game gaining two points and then continued to steal. In the fifth end, Mexico’s skip Adriana Camarena attempted a triple take-out to score one, but missed, and China stole five instead, increasing the scoreline to 14-0. After a blank in the sixth end, China brought home their first win of the tournament.

Skip Wang Rui said: “I’m happy with our performance in that game” and added, “if we qualify, we will be the team that represents China at the Worlds. It is very important for China to be at the Worlds, we’ve been away for a couple of years, so it will be good to be back.”

Japan made excellent use of their first-end hammer advantage against Chinese Taipei, starting the game with a score of six. After giving up a steal in the second, Chinese Taipei then scored one point in the third. Japan then went on to win by 12-1 after just the sixth end. Despite the impressive score-line, Ueno Miyu, Japan skip, conceded they “are still making mistakes in the game, but we are communicating a lot to improve.”

Japan’s Ueno Miyu © Anil Mungal / World Curling

New Zealand were against home team, Canada. The Canadians started off well, building an 8-0 lead after the fourth. In the fifth end, New Zealand got onto the board with two points. After Canada’s skip Rachel Homan’s attempt at a hit for two in the 6th, New Zealand conceded with a final score of 9-2. Homan said she would still “like to be playing a little sharper”.

In the fourth game of the session, United States took on defending champions, Korea. After a blank first end, Korea went on to score two in the second. After this, the game stayed close, with Korea holding their lead of 4-2 into the sixth, but a perfectly controlled tap-weight draw from US skip, Cory Thiesse, removed the Korean stone, scoring four points, and giving her team a 6-4 lead. Tied at 8-8 going into the last end, Korea threw a perfectly-placed guard, making United States’ last shot run down a difficult path and straight through the house. Afterwards, Gim Eunji, Korea skip, admitted that a lot of their struggles were “mental misses” and after the United States took the lead they needed to think of the game “one shot at a time”.

Kore’s Seol Yeeun and Kim Suji © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

B-Division

In the B-Divisions, Philippines remain top on both the men’s and women’s tables. The men had an 8-1 win over Brazil in their afternoon game, while their women also beat Brazil in their morning game, by 13-9 after an extra end. They followed that up with an 8-4 win over Hong Kong China in their evening game, making them the first B Division team to qualify for the play-offs.

Jamaica currently rank second in the men’s Division while Australia and Kazakhstan share second place on the women’s rankings.