CURLING: World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2014 – Day 5 Roundup
DUMFRIES, Scotland – Norway’s Kristin Moen Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten became the first team to qualify directly for the quarter-finals of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2014 as they beat France by 9-4 in Monday’s second session of round-robin play.
This was their sixth win at the Championship, being staged in the Dumfries Ice Bowl in Scotland, keeping their unbeaten record intact.
Their latest victory guaranteed them first place in the D Group and a direct berth in the quarter-finals, with one round-robin game – against Germany – still to play.
In the same session, the Czech Republic beat Japan by 6-5 after an extra end and Switzerland took just seven ends to beat Poland by 11-1.
Those results guarantee both of these teams places in the knock-out stages from the C Group.
However, it is not yet clear which of them will finish top of their group and go directly into the quarter-finals, while second place goes into the quarter-final qualification play-off round.
Australia also qualified for the quarter-final qualification round with a 9-3 win over the Netherlands that guarantees them third place in the group.
At the same time, Korea beat Wales by 9-2 in the A Group to keep their qualification hopes alive.
Earlier, In Monday’s first session of play, Sweden continued their unbeaten run, beating Scotland by 5-4 for their sixth win so far.
This moves them into the knock-out stages although they will need to wait for the last set of round-robin games in their B Group to determine whether they go straight into the quarter-finals as group winners, or move onto the quarter-final qualification play-off round, being played among the teams finishing second and third in the round-robin groups.
Despite this loss, Scotland are now assured of third place in this group to go into the quarter-final qualification play-off round.
Also in Monday’s first session, Slovenia recorded their first win of the event with an 8-6 victory over Finland.
Remarkably, Finland’s 2006 Olympic silver medallist, Markku Uusipaavalniemi, set a new curling record, with Slovenia becoming the 38th nation he has played against in his extensive international curling career.
In the same session, Romania also recorded their first victory of the Championship, beating Slovakia by 10-6, a win that they sealed with a score of four points in an extra end.
Despite scoring four points in the sixth end, Kazakhstan could not match Canada’s Kimberley and Wayne Tuck, who emerged as 7-5 victors.
In the fifth game of this session, Latvia beat Brazil by 10-3.
In Monday’s third session of the day, Russia beat Italy by 9-5 for a seventh win that keeps their unbeaten record intact.
No matter the result of their last round-robin game against Korea, they will top the A Group and now go directly into the quarter-finals.
Defending champions Hungary also won in this session, beating Austria by 9-5. They now qualify for the quarter-final qualification knock-out round from the A Group.
Canada returned to the ice to beat Brazil 10-3 to make sure of at least second place in the B Group and proceed to the quarter-final qualification round, while Estonia beat Kazakhstan by 9-7 after an extra end.
In the fifth game of this session, England beat Denmark by 11-7 to record their first win of the event.
They said it:
Magnus Nedregotten, Norway (after their 9-4 win against France): “I think that was the best game I’ve ever had in Mixed Doubles. We had a great start and stole four ends in a row. We would like to leave Dumfries with a medal. That’s our goal.”
Jure Culic, Slovenia (after recording their first win, by 8-6 against Finland): “It feels great, it feels wonderful. We still can’t believe that we won. We were totally relaxed because we had nothing to lose.”
Allen Coliban, Romania (after recording their first win, by 10-6 against Slovakia): “It’s a great feeling, a new one. It was a good game. We have been playing well but we’ve missed big shots in almost every match. Now our turn came so we are happy. Mixed Doubles is very important for every small nation. This is a chance to get to the Olympics, if it becomes an Olympic event. We just need to introduce more young curlers into this discipline, not only in Romania, but around the world.”
Per Noreen, Sweden (after their 5-4 win against Scotland): “We really wanted to win to be in a good position for the play-offs. It’s definitely the best game that we have played so far.”
Angharad Ward, England, and at 18, the youngest player in the event (after winning 11-7 against Denmark): “This is our first time here so we really didn’t know what to expect. It’s great, really nice, and everyone’s been really friendly. It’s different from normal curling so it takes a little while to get your head around it. Having only five stones and sweeping it yourself makes it a lot harder. You’ve got to get right on the sweeping calls straight away.”
STANDINGS (after 22 sessions)
A Group:
1. Russia 7-0 (qualified for quarter-final) 2. Hungary 7-1 (qualified for quarter-final qualification round) 3. Korea 5-2 4. Austria 4-3 5. Wales 3-4 6. Denmark 2-5 6. Italy 2-5 8. Belarus 1-6 8. England 1-6
B Group:
1. Sweden 6-0 (qualified for quarter-final qualification round) 2. Canada 6-1 (qualified for quarter-final qualification round) 3. Scotland 5-2 (qualified for quarter-final qualification round) 4. Finland 3-3 5. Estonia 3-4 5. Latvia 3-4 7. Kazakhstan 2-5 8. Slovenia 1-5 9. Brazil 1-6
C Group:
1. Czech Republic 6-0 (qualified for quarter-final qualification round) 2. Switzerland 5-1 (qualified for quarter-final qualification round) 3. Australia 4-2 (qualified for quarter-final qualification round) 4. Japan 3-3 4. Poland 3-3 6. Netherlands 2-4 7. Romania 1-5 8. Slovakia 0-6
D Group:
1. Norway 6-0 (qualified for quarter-finals) 2. China 4-2 2. Spain 4-2 2. France 4-2 5. USA 3-3 6. Germany 1-5 6. Ireland 1-5 6. New Zealand 1-5
Round-robin play in each of the four groups continues until the morning of Tuesday 29 April.
Later that afternoon, the quarter-finals will take place. The first place teams in each of the four groups qualify automatically while the second and third placed teams in each group play-off to determine the other four qualifying teams for the quarter-finals.
After that, Wednesday 30 April sees the semi-finals take place, followed by both the bronze and gold medal games.
Results, statistics, live video streams, news and photos from the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2014 can be seen here on the World Curling Federation’s official event website: http://bit.ly/wmdcc2014
More athlete quotes are available here: http://bit.ly/wmdcc2014day5quotes
Curling fans around the world will also be able to see a number of live games and selected highlights from the 2014 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship via the World Curling Federation’s YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/WorldCurlingTV
You can see the full webcast schedule here: http://bit.ly/wmdcc2014schedule
At the same time as staging the World Mixed Doubles Championship, the Dumfries Ice Bowl will also act as host to the Men’s and Women’s World Senior Curling Championships. More information about that event can be found here: http://bit.ly/wscc2014
