[ritchiebaby]

Curling meets The Strip as the Men's World Championships at the Orleans Arena, Las Vegas from Saturday 31 March to Sunday 8 April. This will be the first Men's World Championship at which the field has been extended to 13 teams and they are - Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and United States.

As in the Women's Championships, Scotland are represented by a new team, comprising of Alternate Ross Paterson, Lead Hammy McMillan, Second Bobby Lammie, Third Grant Hardie and Skip Bruce Mouat. Their coach is Alan Hannah. Again the Olympic team (Kyle Smith) had to take part in a Play-off against the Scottish Champions, and again the Scottish Champions won through.

The competition will be almost at the end of the round-robin games before I can post again, but anyone interested can watch some of the games on Eurosport.

[ritchiebaby]

I should definitely go on holiday again during the Championship season! While I was sunning myself in Spain, Scotland were comfortably qualifying for the Semi-finals, currently tying with Sweden for 1st spot with 10 wins and 1 defeat. Their only defeat was against the Swedes by 1 shot and their last game is in progress against China. The Scots scored 6 shots in the 1st end and are leading by 7-4 after 6 ends, seemingly trying to make the game more interesting than it needs to be.

3rd placed Canada and 4th placed Norway have qualified for the 3v6 and 4v5 Qualifying Games, with the other places to be filled by 2 of Switzerland, Korea, Russia and USA.

[ritchiebaby]

Thankfully it only took the Scots another end to beat China with 2 excellent draw shots, winning by 9-4. Sweden finished top by virtue of their win over Scotland and both are in the Semi-finals awaiting 2 other teams. Canada play USA and Korea play Norway in the Qualifying Games shortly. The lower ranked winner will play Sweden and the other winner will play Scotland in the Semi-finals later today (early morning for GB). The Medal Games will be played tomorrow.

[ritchiebaby]

Qualifying Results
Canada 6 USA 4 and Korea 7 Norway 5, resulting in Sweden v Korea and Scotland v Canada Semi-finals.

[ritchiebaby]

Normal service has been resumed after Sweden beat Korea 9-8 after an extra end and Canada beat Scotland more convincingly by 9-5 after being 4-5 behind after 6 ends.

That leaves Scotland playing Korea right now in the Bronze Medal match. Scotland are in total control at the halfway stage, leading by 10-2, but there's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip, so........

Sweden and Canada play in the Gold Medal match later tonight, much, much later, so there will be a final update tomorrow, including the latest World Rankings.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland duly won the Bronze Medal, beating Korea 11-4 after an 8th end full of "interesting" delivery styles. Teams must play at least 8 ends, no matter what the score is - presumably to give the crowd their money's worth.

In the Gold Medal match, Sweden comfortably defeated Canada 7-3, after leading 7-1 after 7 ends. Another meaningless 8th end was played to satisfy the rules.

GOLD - Sweden - skip Niklas Edin, third Oskar Eriksson, second player Rasmus Wranaa and
lead Christoffer Sundgren, supported by alternate Henrik Leek and coach Fredrik Lindberg.

SILVER - Canada

BRONZE - Scotland


Pictures are taken from the WCF website.

The updated World Rankings show mixed fortunes for the home countries in all the categories.
For the Men, Scotland/GB slip back one place to 5th behind Sweden, Canada, USA and Switzerland. England are 23rd, Wales 31st and Ireland 37th.
Scotland/GB Women are up one place to 3rd, behind Sweden and Canada. England are 20th, Ireland are 33rd and Wales 39th.
In the Wheelchair event, Scotland/GB are down one place to 6th, behind China, Norway, Russia, Canada and Korea. England are 18th with Ireland and Wales 27th.