[ritchiebaby]

It's now the last chance saloon for Team GB Women to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in February 2022. The team is Eve Muirhead (skip), Victoria Wright (vice-skip), Jennifer Dodds (second), Hailey Duff (lead) with Mili Smith (alternate). This is the same team that won European Gold two weeks ago, winning 10 of their 11 games. They are in form at the right time and look favourites to qualify as one of the top three teams.

The complete list of teams competing at Leeuwarden in The Netherlands is Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Scotland/GB and Turkey. Italy beat Scotland by 1 shot in the Europeans, so must be considered a favourite to qualify, along with Germany, who won the Bronze. There are still plenty of teams willing and able to cause an upset, so be on your guard, ladies, and make sure you get through.

The opening game for Scotland is on Saturday 11 December against Czech Republic, with the Scots playing their next game against Turkey on Sunday 12 December. The round-robin stage is completed on Thursday 16 December.

To make it more interesting/confusing, only the 1st placed team will automatically qualify. The 2nd and 3rd placed teams will play-off on Friday 17 December with the winner also qualifying. The loser will then play the 4th placed team on Saturday 18 December for the third qualifying position. An extremely unsatisfying guddle to complicate a simple matter. But that's only my opinion.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland managed to get a win by 7-5 over Czech Republic in their opening match this morning. The Scots scored important shots in the 8th and 9th ends to leave the Czechs an impossible task. That's one of the danger teams out of the way, but there are more to come.

In the Mixed Doubles event, which finished yesterday, the 2 Olympic Qualifying Places available were taken by Australia and USA. There were no home nations competing as GB had already qualified. Similarly in the Men's event, GB have already qualified.

[ritchiebaby]

Sad to say, Scotland repeated their poor performance against Turkey in the Europeans with another poor performance, losing 3-7 with an end to play. Scotland were 2-3 down after 3 ends and failed to score in the following 4 ends, allowing Turkey an advantage to secure the game. I must admit Turkey was not on my list of dangerous teams, but at this level every team is potentially dangerous. It's very early in the competition, but it's interesting to note that my 3 fancied teams occupy 3 of the bottom 4 places.

Tomorrow's games are against Korea (definitely dangerous) and Japan (equally so) which need full respect for and concentration against their opponents.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland, once again, are all over the place in the round-robin games.

This morning saw them lose to Korea by 4-8 after being behind all the way. They were only 4-5 down with 2 ends to play, but lost them both, as no Scot managed to get the better of their direct opponent.

Tonight saw a complete reversal as they led all the way against Japan, winning 8-5 with an end to play. Every Scot upped their game to secure a vital win.

Scotland play Germany tomorrow in what might be described as a must-win game for both teams.

[ritchiebaby]

For the second game in a row, Scotland were never behind in beating Germany 7-4. The Scots now move up to 4th on 3 wins, with Korea in 1st on 5 wins, followed by Japan and Latvia on 4 wins. Germany have only 1 win to their name and must now be out of the reckoning barring a miracle.

Tomorrow Scotland play Estonia and Latvia, 2 of the 5 teams around them, with both games perfectly winnable if they stay focussed and in control. However both teams are now in the dangerous category (although I never considered them before this week) and perhaps Scotland's main strength lies in past experience of big games.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland disposed of Estonia this morning by 9-2 with 1 end left to play, although they were only 4-2 up with 3 to play. Germany also helped the Scots by beating Latvia to allow Scotland to move up to 3rd place with 4 wins. Japan and Korea have guaranteed their places in the play-off games with 5 wins, so it looks like another win from the 2 remaining games will be enough for Scotland.

However, Italy are making a late run for glory and as they play Scotland in the last game tomorrow, there's still a lot to play for.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland beat Latvia 9-5 after 9 ends to qualify for the Play-offs for the 3 Olympic Places. It looks as though the Scots are coming into form at the right time, as they once again led all the way, clinching the win with 3 shots in the 9th end.

Scotland now play Italy in the final game tomorrow afternoon, when the Italians need to win to progress. Italy would then finish in 3rd position above Scotland, both with a 5-3 record, but having won the game between the teams. Scotland would then only have 1 chance to qualify for the Olympics.

In the event of a Scotland win, they could move up into 2nd position, depending on the Korea v Czech Republic result, and have 2 chances to qualify. Italy would then tie with Latvia on 4 wins, but with Latvia having beaten Italy in that game, Latvia would move up to 4th and Italy would slip back to 5th and fail to qualify. Theoretically, if Japan and Korea both lose, a Scotland win would see them qualify for the Olympics in 1st position without playing another game.

All that supposition re-inforces the fact that each team has a lot to play for and it could be a nerve-wracking couple of hours for all the players.

[ritchiebaby]

I'm delighted to report that Scotland gained 1st place in the round-robin games, not quite in the way I mentioned, but who cares!!!???

Scotland did beat Italy in their game by a convincing score of 8-1 after 6 ends, meaning that Italy dropped to 5th and failed to qualify. Korea disposed of Czech Republic by 12-6, but Japan were surprisingly defeated by Turkey 5-8. I say surprisingly, but whereas Turkey only managed to win 3 games, they were over the top 3 teams, Korea, Scotland and Japan - definitely giant-killing acts.

The upshot of these results is that Scotland, Korea and Japan all tied with 6 wins. Over the 3 games involving them, each team had 1 win each, so the winner was decided on the Draw Shot Challenge, at which Scotland came out top. This is taken from the aggregate distance from the centre of the rings each team has over the 8 round-robin games. 2 players from each team play 1 stone before each game to give their score for each game.

Korea now play Japan in the first play-off game tomorrow, with the winner going to the Olympics. The loser then plays Latvia on Saturday to decide the 3rd spot.

Well done to Eve Muirhead and her team!!!

[Lord Snooty]

Never doubted they would.

[ritchiebaby]

Just to complete the Olympic Qualification news, here are the Beijing 2022 qualifiers.

Mixed Doubles - Australia and USA
Men - Norway, Italy and Denmark
Women - Scotland/GB, Japan and Korea