Some seven teams in the World Mixed Curling Championship 2015 have won enough games to ensure they will reach the final stages of this new Championship on Friday (18 September), despite there being one more day of round robin play.
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Sweden, Russia, hosts Switzerland and Scotland are all undefeated and will qualify from their groups, while Germany, Norway and Hungary have lost just one game each and can still reach the quarter-finals directly or enter the quarter-final qualification games.
The top teams in the four groups after the round robin secure a quarter-final place each, while the teams in second and third place enter into a qualification round.
Japan recorded their first win this morning (Wednesday 16 September). Taking four points in the second end and then stealing a point in the sixth they beat Turkey 6-3. "We are happy to win this game. We played a simple strategy and focussed on trying to make each shot right," said skip Hiroaki Kashiwagi.
Hungary who share a group with Japan, Group D, won their sixth game beating Belarus 9-2 in six ends during session 17.
Also in this session, Canada and Germany both continued to win. Canada beat Wales 6-3 and Germany defeated Latvia 6-3. Finland won against Australia 5-2 and Spain beat Israel 8-4.
Italy stole a point in the final end of their game against Denmark, during session 18, to win a breathtaking curling game 3-2.
Skip Denise Pimpini described the team’s feelings, when Denmark’s last stone passed the button and allowed Italy to steal the final point. She said: "We are very happy with this win. We were following the wall game, so when the last stone past the button the tension went down. The game was so close and that moment was so important."
Switzerland continued to go unbeaten with a win over Czech Republic 12-2, in six ends, while Russia defeated New Zealand 10-3, also in six ends.
The remainder of the games during this session were completed in seven ends. China beat Kazakhstan 10-3, Slovakia defeated Lithuania 8-3 and Poland won against England, 4-2.
Scotland became the only unbeaten team in Group D during session 19. Skip Cameron Bryce and his team put in an impressive performance against Hungary, who prior to this game had also been undefeated, to win 11-3 in six ends.
Bryce said: "We’re playing well. Hungary are a good team, but we brought our A-game when it mattered. Our scores in the second [four points] and the fourth [three points] ends really benefitted us."
USA also completed their game in six ends, beating Belarus 8-3. Japan beat Brazil in seven ends, 7-3, after a comfortable start that saw them secure four points in the first end.
The remainder of the games, in session 19, all involved an extra end. Germany beat Canada 5-4 and
Norway, edged past Israel, 6-5.
The most interesting of these extra end games was Estonia against Austria because the Estonians came back from 7-2 down after six ends to level the scores after the regulation eight ends, 7-7. In the end Austria won 8-7.
In session 20, Sweden beat Denmark 6-4, despite having single points stolen from them in the last two ends.
Italy had a 6-4 win over Romania and France beat Lithuania 6-4. Having scored two points in the first end and then stealing single points in the next four ends, Ireland defeated Belgium 6-2.
Slovenia beat Poland 6-3 and Czech Republic won their second game 4-2 against New Zealand.
For more information, contact:
Cameron MacAllister
Communications & Media Relations Manager
media@worldcurling.org
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