[ritchiebaby]

So far so good for the Scottish Men. On Saturday they comfortably beat Sweden by 11 shots to 4 and today they beat Germany by 8-2 after losing only 1 end. Tomorrow they face China and Canada.

The Scottish Women got off to a terrific start against reigning champions Canada, winning 6-5 with 2 shots in the last end. There was never more than 1 shot in the game all the way through. The Scots now play Korea later tonight and Switzerland tomorrow.

[Lord Snooty]

Hey up, Ritchie. Did you see Susan Calman curling on the Secret Scotland programme on Ch5 on Friday night.

[ritchiebaby]

I didn't Snooty, but I will have a look at it tomorrow. I'm certain that, with another couple of lessons, she'll be as good as me.

Back in the real world, the Scottish Women crashed and burned with a 3-11 loss against Korea last night. Their chances weren't helped with 3 shots against at the 6th end and 5 shots against at the 8th end, prompting a concession by the Scots. They then suffered a narrower defeat by 7 shots to 10 by Switzerland, but taking the game all the way to the last stone. Tomorrow's games are against Norway and USA.

Despite only scoring 3 ends, Scotland's Men cruised to a 10-4 win over China this morning and now play Canada over the next couple of hours. On Tuesday they will play against New Zealand.

[ritchiebaby]

I watched wee Susan having a shot at curling. At first sight, it looks as though she played a really good shot at the end, but I'm certain the film editor should get more credit than her. It's obvious to me that there was more than one stone played in that sequence. You'd better not mention to SCO about Eve Muirhead being included in the excerpt.  

Also I'd like to put a word in for Team GB winning the Gold Medal in the Mixed Curling at the European Youth Olympic Festival, featuring Border Ice Rink's very own Angus Bryce.

However, back on topic, Scotland's Men preserved their unbeaten record by beating Canada 8-7 after an extra end last night and then this year's surprise packets, New Zealand, 6-2 this afternoon. Scotland now sit on top of the table on 5 wins with Canada, Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland and USA on 3 wins. There are still 4 games to go, including Italy and Switzerland tomorrow, but the Scots must be strong favourites to go through to the Semi-finals.

The Scottish Women continue to struggle as expected, losing 4-5 against Norway, despite leading 4-2 at one stage and have only 1 win out of 4 games. They play USA later tonight and Russia tomorrow.

[ritchiebaby]

SCOTLAND - Lisa Davie, Kirsty Barr, Annabel Skuse, Ema Barr, Beth Farmer

The Scottish Women had a close game against USA, only losing 5-7 after being 5-5 with 2 ends to go. Their game against Russia was anoher close one, losing 4-7 after being 4-3 up with 2 ends to go. The Scots are competing well until they get into the final stages of the game. They are learning hard lesssons here but I'm sure it will stand them in good stead for the future. They play Japan and Sweden tomorrow with China being their final game on Friday.

The Scottish Men demolished Italy by 12-1 after only 6 ends to continue their 100% record so far. 1 win from their next 3 games should be good enough to qualify, although they are being pursued by the same 5 teams as before. They still have Switzerland to play tonight, then Norway tomorrow and USA on Friday.

[ritchiebaby]

SCOTLAND - Ryan McCormack, Euan Kyle, James Craik, Duncan McFadzean and Ross Whyte

Scotland qualified for the Men's Semi-finals with 2 games to play, after their 8-6 win over Switzerland. Strangely they only scored in 2 ends compared to Switzerland scoring in 5 of them, the most important of the two being a spectacular double take-out by Ross Whyte in the 8th end for 5 shots. Today's game saw them dispose of Norway by 9-4, Scotland doing all the damage in the second half of the game. Canada also qualified with 1 game still to play after defeating Sweden 9-5. Three teams - Norway, Switzerland and USA - are tied on 5 wins with New Zealand lurking behind on 4 wins and all still have a chance to qualify for the Semi-finals.

Unfortunately the Scottish Women are still looking for their second win after losing 4-10 to Japan and are unlikely to avoid relegation to the B Division for next year.

[ritchiebaby]

The Scottish Women suffered another narrow defeat last night, this time from Sweden by 6-7. That was followed today by a 6-10 defeat by China, again only losing their way in the last couple of ends after being tied at 6-6. The four Semi-finalists are China (8 wins), Canada, Switzerland and Russia (all on 6 wins). Korea also finished on 6 wins in 5th place. Scotland finished 10th with only 1 win (against Canada, the defending champions).

The Women's Semi-finals are China v Russia and Canada v Switzerland.

The Scottish Men finished the round robin with another win to stay on 100% with 9 wins out of 9. This time in another clinical display they disposed of USA 11-5, courtesy of 4 shots in the 3nd end and 5 shots in the 4th end. They now play Switzerland (6 wins) in the first Semi-final with Canada (7 wins) and Norway (6 wins) contesting the other.

The real competition starts now, with all the earlier results of no importance whatsoever.

[St Charles Owl]

Ritchie, any mention of our Eve is good with me!!

[ritchiebaby]

When it came tio the real crunch games, Scotland just missed out on the Gold Medal Final after they lost 9-10 to Switzerland. The Swiss team scored 4 shots in the first end and the Scots were reduced to playing catch-up for the rest of the game. Catch-up they did. tying at 9-9 after 9 ends but had to give last stone in the last end to Switzerland, who drew right inti the centre with that stone for a 1 shot win. In the other Semi-final, Canada beat Norway 7-5.

In the Gold Medal match, Canada set off at a fast pace to lead Switzerland 7-1 after 5 ends. After that it was just a matter of playing out time and they eventually won 9-4. Scotland redeemed themselves by seeing off Noeway 8-5 to claim the Bronze Medal. Scores of 1 in the 2nd end and then 3 in the next end gave the Scots an advantage of 3 shots, which they held all the way to the finish.

In the Women's Semi-finals, Canada comfortably beat Switzerland 8-2 and Russia beat China 8-6. The Medal games have just finished and Switzerland have added to their medal haul with the Bronze Medal, beating China by 6 shots to 4. In the Gold Medal match, Russia managed to beat Canada 8-7 after an extra end. Amazingly enough, the Russian Women's team only qualified for these Championships by finishing second behind Scotland in the B Championships in January.

WOMEN
GOLD - Russia
SILVER - Canada
BRONZE - Switzerland

MEN
GOLD - Canada
SILVER -Switzerland
BRONZE - Scotland

[ritchiebaby]

RUSSIA WOMEN

CANADA MEN


All photographs taken from WCF website/FB page.