WWhCC2017: USA overcome spirited Finland

The USA picked up their first win of the week when they won against a spirited Finnish side on Monday (6 March) at the World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2017, which also acts as the PyeongChang 2018 Test Event, in Gangneung, South Korea.

The USA lead 6-1 after five ends, when Finland scored two points in the sixth end and stole a single point in the seventh end as they attempted a comeback. But the US were able to hold their nerve in the eighth end, running Finland out of stones and picking up the 6-4 victory.

Stephen Emt, US skip, said: “We always like coming home in the eighth end with hammer. My team did a great job there in the eighth end to set it up, and keep it clean, put a few stones in the house and peel guards.

“We believe that we are one of the best teams in the world and we can still win this. Three losses and we are still in it – take it one end at a time, one game at a time and if we believe in ourselves and believe in each other we can do anything we want.”

Returning champions Russia* recorded wins in both sessions of round-robin play on day three to remain undefeated. In the morning session Russia defeated China 7-3. The scores were tied at 3-3 after five ends, when Russia scored two points in the sixth end and followed that with a steal of two points in the seventh end. They then ran China out of stones in the eighth end for the win.

In their afternoon session they faced a Scotland side who had won three games in a row. Russia led Scotland 8-5 after six ends, helped by scores of three points in the second and fourth ends. Scotland scored two points in the seventh end to bring the score to within one point. But in the eighth end with the final stone, Russian skip Andrey Smirnov cleared the lone Scottish shot stone to blank the end and hold on for the 8-7 victory.

Earlier in the day, Scotland defeated Norway in a one-sided encounter, where they opened the scoring with five points in the first end and left with the 13-2 win.

Scottish skip Aileen Neilson said: “In the first end, we just made every shot and the Norwegians had some misses and we managed to capitalise on that. If we capitalise on the misses then that’s when you can score a big end, so it really gave us a strong start to the game and we managed to maintain that which is the important thing. You just don’t think of the score lines – you just go into the next end, clean the slate and play the best you can and that’s what we managed to do for the six ends.”

Norway redeemed themselves in the afternoon session with a convincing 8-1 victory over Finland where they scored in six of the seven ends played.

Canada ended the day in second place in the rankings with their third win of the week in the afternoon session. They defeated Germany 8-2 helped largely by a score of three points in the sixth end and a steal of two points in the seventh end.

Hosts South Korea picked up a win in their sole game of the day when they defeated Switzerland in the morning session of play. South Korea held the 6-4 advantage after seven ends, before they managed to run Switzerland out of stones in the eighth end for the win.

Switzerland then lost their second game of the day against China in the afternoon session. China put the game beyond Switzerland’s reach after a score of four points in the third end and steals of one point in the fourth end and three points in the fifth end on their way to a 10-2 victory.

Results session six: Canada 8-2 Germany; China 10-2 Switzerland; Russia 8-7 Scotland; Norway 8-1 Finland.

Results session five: China 3-7 Russia; Scotland 13-2 Norway; USA 6-4 Finland; Switzerland 4-6 South Korea

(Sunday, 5 March) Results session four: Norway 6-5 South Korea; USA 4-6 Canada; Germany 4-5 China

(Sunday) Results session three: Scotland 6-3 Finland; South Korea 5-7 Germany; Switzerland 4-3 Canada; USA 6-7 Russia

Standings after session six (W-L):

Russia 5-0

Canada 3-1

Norway 3-2

Scotland 3-2

Korea 2-2

China 2-3

Finland 2-3

Germany 1-3

USA 1-3

Switzerland 1-4

Complete results can be found on the World Curling Federation’s website.

Also follow the action from the WWhCC 2017 on Twitter, Instagram (@worldcurling) and Facebook (/WorldCurlingFederation) and use the hashtags: #WWhCC2017 #curling #Roadto2018

*Editor’s note: The International Paralympic Committee suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee on 7 August for its inability to fulfil its IPC membership responsibilities and obligations, in particular its obligation to comply with the IPC Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Code (to which it is also a signatory). As a result of the suspension, Russian athletes cannot enter IPC sanctioned events or competitions, including the Paralympic Games. For further information please click here.