Play-off race remains close on day five at World Women’s

Despite all the teams having played at least eight of their twelve scheduled round-robin games, no clear play-off picture has yet emerged at the BKT World Women’s Curling Championship, with most teams still having something to play for.

Although joint leaders Canada and Switzerland both had a successful Wednesday — Switzerland beat Australia by 10-1 in their only game, while Canada beat Turkiye by 9-3 before battling to a 7-5 win over Scotland — neither can yet be sure of the direct route to the semi-final. Joint third-placed Japan and Korea are still capable of catching them, thanks to an 8-3 win over Scotland in the afternoon session for Korea and two more wins by Japan.

Kim Suji, Korea © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Even if they do not take the direct route to the semi-finals, Korea and Japan are still in a fight for one of the four remaining play-off slots, with Sweden, Turkiye and China also still in contention. To complicate the picture, Denmark and Italy still have outside chances of reaching the play-offs too.

At the foot of the table, Australia, Norway and United States are trying to avoid finishing at the foot of the table, and as a result, not qualifying for next year’s championship.

Kristen Tsourlenes and Sara Westman, Australia © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

The game between Switzerland and Australia was a one-sided affair, and when Swiss skip Xenia Schwaller drew her last stone of the sixth end into an open house to score two points, Australia conceded, with a final score-line of 10-1 to the Swiss.

In their first game, Canada played Turkiye and, in the sixth end, with Canada ahead by 7-3, Turkiye’s skip Dilsat Yildiz was heavy with an attempted draw, giving up a steal of two more points to improve Canada’s lead to 9-3. Turkiye then conceded.

Kerri Einarson, Canada © World Curling / Anil Mungal

In their evening game against Scotland, the Canadians gained a crucial single steal in the ninth end when Scotland skip Fay Henderson was just too heavy with a nudge-up attempt, giving the Canadians a 7-5 lead. Scotland then ran out of stones in the tenth to give Canada the win that keeps them in joint top spot with Switzerland.

After the game, Canada’s Shannon Birchard said, “We just lost control a little bit in the middle of the game. We started really strong and let them back in the game a little bit, but I thought we finished really strong as well.”

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In the afternoon, Korea played Scotland and by the sixth end, Korea had built a 4-0 lead. Scotland skip Fay Henderson then played a double take-out to score three points — the third point determined after an umpire’s measure, reducing the Korean lead to 4-3.

But after this, Korea took charge again, and went on to win by 8-3 and now sit in third place on the table.

Kim Minji, Korea © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Afterwards, Korean skip Gim Eunji said, “Our focus was on how the rocks were reacting and I think that was the right way to approach the game.”

She added, “We struggled with the ice conditions in the first three games, but I don’t think we’ll have that problem if we go to the play-offs.”

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Japan had two games on Wednesday. They beat Italy by 8-6 in the morning. By the fifth end, they held a 5-1 lead but Italy’s skip Stefania Constantini then played a double take-out to score three points and reduce the Japan lead to 5-4. Despite their efforts, Italy could not get back onto terms in this game, and Japan went on to win by 8-6.

The Japanese then came back onto the ice in the evening to face Sweden and, perhaps surprisingly, won by 8-2 in just six ends, after an umpire’s measure gave them a score of two in the sixth end.

After this, a relieved Japan skip Satsuki Fujisawa said, “Sweden are a good team, so we’re happy to have won that game.”

Fujisawa Satsuki, Japan © World Curling / Anil Mungal

Before losing to Japan, Sweden had beaten China by 9-4. And after that game, Sweden skip Isabella Wranaa said, “I feel like our team did a really good job there. We’ve had a bit of a learning curve at this championship and I feel like we’re closer on all fronts now. It’s great fun to play this way and I hope we can keep it like that.”

After this loss, China came back onto the ice to beat Australia by 8-2. This was partly thanks to a delicate split at the edge of the house by skip Wang Rui in the fourth end, to score three points and take a 6-1 lead. They went on to win in just six ends.

Han Yu and Wang Rui, China © World Curling / Anil Mungal

When they faced Denmark in the afternoon session, Turkiye had lost three games in a row, but they stopped that pattern with a 7-6 win.

As the teams played the tenth end, Turkiye held a 7-5 lead. They had the chance to add to that, but their skip Dilsat Yildiz let her stone roll out with her final take-out attempt. This gave Denmark a steal of one, but it was not enough, as Turkiye emerged as 7-6 winners to keep their play-off hopes alive.

Afterwards, Turkiye skip Yildiz said, “That was an important game for us if we are to make the play-offs. I think we’re back on the way up. We need to win two games tomorrow… why not?”