[ritchiebaby]

Yes, that's right, this is early notification for the 2024 Championships, to be held in Oestersund, Sweden in April. More urgently the Qualification Event is to be held in Dumfries, Scotland from Saturday 2 December to Thursday 7 December. This includes 3 of the Home Nations, namely England, Ireland and Wales.

A total of 26 teams are divided into four groups, where they will play a round-robin format. Round-robin play begins at 17:00 on Saturday 2 December and goes on until 19:30 on Tuesday 5 December. After the round-robin stage, the top two teams in each group will progress to the play-offs, which will determine the four World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship qualifiers.  The qualification games will take place on Wednesday 6 December at 10:00 and 15:00 and the final games will be at 10:00 on Thursday 7 December.

The groups are as follows:
Group A: Germany, India, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Chinese Taipei and Ukraine
Group B: Austria, China, France, Jamacia, Poland, Portugal and Wales
Group C: England, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Mexico and Slovenia
Group D: Belgium, Brazil, Finland, Lithuania, New Zealand and Slovakia

Ireland's team is Alison Fyfe and John Wilson
Wales are represented by Laura Beevers and Garry Coombs
England are once again the daughter and father duo of Lina Opel and Michael Opel

Photos will follow (once I can trace the Irish one - where is their publicity officer hiding?) along with the playing schedule.

[ritchiebaby]

It's catch-up time after my busy weekend, so there's no patter, just results.

Saturday - England 5 Hong Kong Phooey 7; Germany11 Ireland 2; Wales 1 China 13:

Sunday - England 7 Slovenia 4; Latvia 5 Ireland 8; Hungary 9 England 7; Wales 8 Portugal 9:

Tomorrow's games are England against Mexico at 19.30, Ireland against Kyrgyzstan at 09.00 then Ukraine at 16.00 and Wales play Poland at 09.00 and France at 16.00.

Eventually Irish Curling posted a photo so here are the Home Nations players.

ENGLAND Lina and Michael Opel

IRELAND Alison Fyfe and John Wilson

WALES Gary Coombs and Laura Beevers

[Lord Snooty]

Hong Kong Phooey?

[ritchiebaby]

Poetic licence.  You surely remember HKP.

[Lord Snooty]

Henry, the mild mannered janitor.

[ritchiebaby]

Wales continued their poor form this morning, albeit it to an extra end defeat by 5-6 against Poland. Even winning all their remaining games will not be enough for qualification. Things got worse this afternoon, losing 2-8 to France. They are still to win a game and could easily finish bottom of the group.

Ireland had a much better time of it with a convincing 9-3 win over Kyrgyzstan this morning, but suffered a 5-7 defeat against Ukraine this afternoon. With 2 games to go, they lie 2nd in the group on 2 wins along with India, Latvia, Chinese Taipei and Ukraine. Germany have already qualified on 5 wins, leaving only 1 place up for grabs.

As for England, they have beaten Mexico 9-8 tonight, scoring 2 shots in the last end, never being in front until then. This gives them a realistic chance of qualifying for the 2nd spot by beating Guyana, Hungary having already qualified. Guyana, HKP and Mexico can still pip them though.

Tomorrow sees the final round-robin games for all the groups.
Group A - Ireland play Chinese Taipei at 09.00 and India at 16.00.
Group B - Wales take on Jamaica at 09.00 and Austria at 16.00.
Group C - England have Guyana at 19.30 in the final session.

[ritchiebaby]

Wales' week of woe continued this morning with a 5-12 defeat against Jamaica, but they eventually redeemed themselves with an exciting 7-5 win against Austria this afternoon. They still finished bottom of the table along with Portugal.

Ireland made the whole day exciting, not only beating Chinese Taipei 11-7 - they were 5-0 up, then 5-7 down, but won the last 3 ends - but also India by 9-7, despite losing 5 shots in the 2nd end. Beating 2 of their closest rivals boosted the Irish into 2nd place in Group A to qualify for the last 8.

England's chances of reaching the last 8 have disappeared. For the second successive Championship, their final game is meaningless because the wrong team won this afternoon. Hong Kong's victory over Guyana meant that they qualified because of their better Draw Shot Challenge record.

I'll post the update of the England v Guyana game later tonight, plus the Play-off Draw.

[ritchiebaby]

England's final game ended in a 7-8 defeat against Guyana, in a close game all the way through. This leaves the English duo in 4th place in their group.

Tomorrow's play-off games at 10.00 are as follows:-
The A-Road
Germany v Hong Kong
Chinese Taipei v New Zealand
Hungary v France
Finland v Ireland

Now for the bit that I can never get my head round - the 4 winners progress to the next round to be played at 15.00 with the 2 winners of these games going through to the Championships in April (so far so good). The 4 losers (The B-Road) go into a consolation tournament, also at 15.00 with the 2 winners going through to play the 2 losers from The A-Road at 10.00 on Thursday. The 2 winners from these games also qualify for the Championships in April, meaning that 2 teams beaten in the 1st games can qualify for the Championships at the expense of 2 teams who won in the 1st games.     

[ritchiebaby]

A-Road Results - Last 8
Germany 11 v 2 Hong Kong
Chinese Taipei 7 v 2 New Zealand
Hungary 4 v 7 France
Finland 10 v 7 Ireland
Ireland were only 1 down coming into the last end, following a mini-recovery, but Finland scored 2 shots to finish the game off.

A-Road Results - Last 4
Germany 7 v 5 Chinese Taipei
France 7 v 4 Finland

Germany and France have qualified for the Finals of the Championships in Oestersund, Sweden in April.

B-Road Results - Last 4
Hong Kong 6 v 10 NewZealand
Hungary 7 v 8 Ireland
In this game, Ireland were 1 up going into the last end, but lost 3 shots to drop out of the reckoning.

B-Road Games To Play
Finland v New Zealand
Chinese Taipei v Hungary

The 2 winners will also go through to the Championships in April.

[ritchiebaby]

B-Road Results
Finland 5 v 6 New Zealand after an extra end
Chinese Taipei 9 v 3 Hungary

Therefore New Zealand (beaten in the 1st Play-off Game remember!) and Chinese Taipei advance to the main Championships in April.