7 March 2025

China and Korea to play for gold at World Wheelchairs

After six days of round-robin play at the Auchenharvie Leisure Centre in Stevenston, six teams qualified for the play-offs. China and Korea secured their spot in the semi-finals due to finishing first and second in the round robin.

Qualification Games

The other four qualified teams played qualification games on Friday morning. In the qualification game between Canada and Norway the teams were tied at 4-4 after eight ends. Canada had last stone in the extra end. Norway’s Jostein Stordahl came up short with his last draw attempt, and Canada didn’t need to throw their last. Canada scored two from stones that were already sitting in scoring position, won the game, 6-4, and qualified for the semi-final against China.

Afterwards, Canada skip Gil Dash said, “My emotions are proud to be a Canadian, also, redemption. We played Norway in the gold medal match last year, Norway came out on top, and this year we got to beat them in the play-offs. So, that’s an amazing feeling.”

In the other qualification game Sweden met Slovakia. The game was close all the way, the teams were tied at 3-3 going into the eighth. Sweden’s Viljo Petersson-Dahl attempted a hit-and-stay with his last shot to win the game, but his shooter rolled too far. Slovakia stole a single, won the game, 4-3, and booked their place in the semi-final against Korea.

After their big win in the qualification game, Slovakia’s Monika Kunkelova said, “Our feelings are perfect! Yesterday, we almost fell down to the B-Division, and today, we are in games for medals!”

Semi-finals

Canada met China in one semi-final. China were leading by 4-1 at half time, after scoring two in the first and stealing one in the fourth. A score of two for Canada in the sixth cut down their deficit to a single point. China scored one in the seventh to reset their two-point lead, 5-3. Canada fourth Jon Thurston came up short with his last stone in the eighth end, and Canada scored only one to give China a 5-4 win and a place in the gold medal game.

Afterwards, China lead Li Nana said, “I’m very happy to have the chance to play in the gold medal game. We played very well today. We will do our best tomorrow!”

Slovakia played Korea in the other semi-final. Korea were leading by 3-1 at the break, due to a steal of one in the fourth. Slovakia scored a single in the fifth. In the sixth, Korea put two on the board after two perfect draws by their skip Lee Hyeonchul, 5-2.

In the seventh, Slovakia fourth Peter Zatko’s take-out attempt didn’t turned out as he planned, and Slovakia gave up a single steal. In the eighth end Korea ran Slovakia out of stones and secured their place in the gold medal game.

After their win, Korea lead Yun Heekyeong said, “It was so painful last year because we didn’t make it to the semi-finals, but now, we are just very excited!”

The bronze medal game between Slovakia and Canada will take place on Saturday (8 March) at 10:00. The gold medal final between China and Korea will be played on Saturday at 14:30.

Times are GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) which is the same as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Find all the results from the championship here.

Find the final round-robin standings here.

Broadcast information about the event can be found here.

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