Russia Takes Home Gold at World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships

Curling: Russia win Gold at World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2016

Karlstad, Sweden – Russia claimed the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2016 title with a 7-5 victory over China at the Löfbergs Lila Arena, in Karlstad, Sweden.

China collected Silver medals, while a 9-7 win over Scotland secured USA Bronze medals.

For all standings, results and coverage visit, www.worldcurling.org/wmdcc2016

To open the Gold Medal Game, China made a pressure draw to the button against three Russian stones to count for their single point. Russia captured three points in the second end after tapping back a Chinese stone off of the button to take a 3-1 lead.

In the third end, China doubled their score with a single point after a failed attempt at a re-directed takeout for two points. Russia capitalised on their draw for two points in the fourth end, giving them a 5-2 lead at the fourth end break.

With another pressure draw to the four-foot against two stones, China made no mistake and grabbed their single point in the fifth end to make the score 5-3. In the sixth end, China made a double takeout and forced Russia to play a takeout for one point. China responded back with a double takeout of their own to score two points and go into the final end down by one point.

Russia was successful on their final draw to the four-foot to out-count China’s stone, which allowed them to capture the Gold medals and the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship title.

In the Bronze Medal Game, USA defeated Scotland 9-7 to secure themselves ten Olympic points. USA had control of the game early, with a 7-3 lead after four ends. Scotland fought back scoring three points in the fifth end, followed by a steal of one point in the sixth end when USA were heavy on their draw to the eight-foot, which levelled the score at 7-7.

USA made a draw to the button to score one point, and enter the final end with a one-point advantage. In that last end, Scotland had a takeout into a cluttered four-foot to remove the USA stone, but failed to do so, giving USA the victory with a 9-7 final.

At the conclusion of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2016, 12 Members Associations have earned Olympic Qualification Points for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea (between 9 and 25 February 2018). They are: Russia (14), China (12), USA (10), Scotland (9), Canada (8), Estonia (7), Finland (6), England (5), Norway (4), Slovakia (3), Austria (2) and Ireland (1).

They Said It

Anastasia Bryzgalova; Russia (after 7-5 Gold Medal Game win over China): "There is lots of emotions. We are very happy! Thanks to all our supporters who were with us during this week. We felt their support and they helped us to win."

Alexander Krushelnitskiy; Russia (after 7-5 Gold Medal Game win over China): "Of course I was nervous, it was a very hard and important shot [draw to the four foot with the last stone]. I have done my best and in every curling people should make this shot."

Dexin Ba; China (after 5-7 Gold Medal Game loss to Russia): "I think that Russia out-played us, and they controlled the game and they played better than us. We are very satisfied with that [securing 12 Olympics points]."

Tabitha Peterson; USA (after 9-7 Bronze Medal Game win over Scotland): "The whole game was back and forth, back and forth, big ends here, big ends there, so it was really nerve-wracking. We just happened to make a good shot in the eighth end, and it was good enough for a steal. Getting so many Olympic Qualification Points is great, I mean we cannot be any happier for that as well as for getting a medal for ourselves. I think USA is proud and we are proud."

RESULTS, finals

Gold Medal Game: Russia 7-5 China; Bronze Medal Game: USA 9-7 Scotland

RESULTS, classification ranks 5-12

5-6: Estonia 2-8 Canada; 7-8: England 3-6 Finland; 9-10: Norway 8-2 Slovakia; 11-12: Ireland 6-9 Austria

For further information please contact:

Cameron MacAllister

media@worldcurling.org

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