3 March 2025
Sweden pick up first two wins on Day 3
The third day of round-robin play saw Sweden pick up their first wins of the event and formerly unbeaten Korea were handed their first loss by Scotland. China also had a two-win day and are co-leading the standings with Korea.
Sweden were looking for their first win of the tournament when they met Norway in the morning. Norway were leading the game by 5-2 after six ends, but Sweden fought back and eventually won in an extra end, 6-5.
In the evening, Sweden played hosts Scotland. The Swedes were leading, 7-4, playing the sixth. In that end, Scotland skip Hugh Nibloe came up short with his last draw against two Swedish counters and gave up two points. Sweden eventually won, 9-5.
Scotland had a semi-successful day, as in the afternoon they handed formerly unbeaten Korea their first defeat, 7-1.
After that game Scotland second Austin McKenzie said, “We’ve played really well, we played a team who hasn’t lost a game yet, and we’ve gone out there, we started really strongly and we continued that form. We dug in, we’ve done what we had to do. Last night was a little bit disappointing after that extra-end defeat. To bounce back this morning against Korea is showing the kind of determination that we’ve got for this tournament.”
Title-defenders Norway made up for their morning loss as they beat Latvia in the evening, 7-6. This was Latvia’s second loss of the day as they had got defeated by Canada in the afternoon, 2-9.
After that game Canada fourth Jon Thurston said, “They’re always a good opponent. We just had some good shots, they were hard to get at for them, and we were able to capitalise and get some multi-point ends that set us up well on the scoreboard.”
Talking about Canada’s overall performance so far, he added, “We’re doing well to learn and get better as the week goes on. It’s been a grind, these last 24 hours, four games back-to-back, so we’re looking forward to some rest. But really good job, just sticking with it, learning and trying to get better as the week goes on.”
With this win, Canada bounced back from their morning loss to Korea, 4-6.
Last year’s bronze medallists, China showed solid form. In the morning, their beat England, 6-1, in seven ends. In the evening, they defeated Japan, 6-3, mostly due to a big score of three in the seventh end after a perfect hit-and-stay by skip Wang Haitao.
This defeat by China was the second of the day for Japan. In the afternoon, Slovakia beat them, 13-2, mostly due to back-to-back four-point steals.
Following that match, a very happy Slovakia lead Monika Kunkelova said, “This win was very important for our emotions. So we are happy.”
Speaking about their overall goal for the championship, she added, “To qualify for the Paralympic Games, that’s the main goal.”
This victory for Slovakia improved their record for the day as in the morning they had got defeated by United States, 4-8.
The Americans were leading their afternoon game against Italy by 6-4 after six. In the seventh, Matt Thums’ attempted draw against three ended up tapping one more Italian stone into scoring position and United States gave up a steal of four and eventually lost, 7-8.
Italy couldn’t keep their momentum for the evening, and lost against England, 4-6.
Find all the results from the championship here.
Broadcast information about the event can be found here.
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