[ritchiebaby]

Now that my curling is finished for the season, I'll have more time to do a more comprehensive report on the major World Championships. The World Women's event, as previously promoted by theo luddite, is taking place in Uijeongbu, Korea, from Saturday 15 March to Sunday 23 March. There are 13 teams - perfectly sensible if you represent a vested interest - who play each other from 15 March to 21 March, followed by qualifying games and Semi-finals on Saturday 22 March - 3rd place plays 6th and 4th place plays 5th with 1st and 2nd places being thrust straight into the Semi-finals. The Medal Games will be played on Sunday 23 March.

Scotland represent the Home Nations and the team consists of (from left to right) Fay Henderson (Alternate), Sophie Jackson (Lead), Sophie Sinclair (Second), Jennifer Dodds (Third) and Rebecca Morrison (Fourth). Sophie J will skip and call the shots, except for her own stones, when Rebecca does the needful.


Scotland have been involved in 3 very tight games so far. They beat Canada by 8-7 on Saturday night, scoring 3 shots in the last end, then lost 7-8 at the last end against Norway on Sunday morning. An even tighter game followed with the Scots forcing an extra end against Korea with 2 shots in the 10th end. After a tense extra end, they lost out by 4 shots to 5.

Tomorrow Scotland play Italy at midnight (UK time) and Switzerland at 10.00. That's 09.00 and 19.00 Korean time. The Koreans have stayed on the same time zone since 1988, as being pragmatic and sensible people, they have realised that Daylight Saving Time in summer doesn't make the slightest difference to saving (or expending) any daylight. Not like us, who have abandoned the absurd Imperial notion that we standardised GMT for the benefit of the world. Now we're apparently using UTC - I never knew either - having joined the Atomic Age in 1967. However I digress. Back to the future (in curling terms).

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland bucked the trend of their recent close games by beating Italy by the massive margin of 2 shots. Italy scored 3 shots in the 9th end to be only 1 down but the Scots scored a single shot in the last end to win 7-5.

In the next game, which I've been watching on i-Player, Scotland suffered another last stone defeat against Switzerland by 5-6. This means that they are now in 6th equal place, along with 5 other teams, after 5 games played.

Scotland play Sweden at 05.00 and Lithuania at 10.00 tomorrow, the second game again on i-Player. Two wins would be brilliant and one is a must for their hopes of qualifying.

[ritchiebaby]

A toally expected defeat for Scotland against Sweden in another close game early this morning, when they went down 3-5, running out of stones in the last end. They later made amends against Lithuania, winning 9-2 after only 7 ends and never really being extended.

These two results leave Scotland in a precarious position in 9th position with 3 wins out of 7 games. Realistically they will need at least 3 wins out of the 5 remaining games, with 2 of these coming tomorrow. At 05.00 thay face United States and then Japan at 10.00, the second game being on i-Player again. The results of these 2 games will tell us whether or not the Scots have a chance of progressing.

[ritchiebaby]

Two wins for Scotland today, albeit by the narrowest of margins, saw them rise up the table into 6th place with 5 wins. Firstly they beat United States by 7-6 after an extra end, although in true Scottish style they lost 3 shots in the last end to require the extra end.

After that scare, they then struggled against Japan, eventually winning 6-5, thanks to a final stone take-out by Rebecca Morrison. Both were vital wins because their two opponents were, and still are, a threat to Scotland's progression.

Switzerland on 8 wins and Korea on 7 wins look relatively secure, but there are still 10 teams with a realistic chance of securing the remaining 4 places. It looks like a must-win game against Turkey tomorrow at 05.00, with games against Denmark at midnight and finally China at 05.00 on Friday, both of whom are close rivals for a Qualifying spot.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland did the needful against Turkiye, being 6-1 ahead after only 3 ends and controlled the rest of the game to win 10-6 after 9 ends.

They are still in a great position with 2 games to go, having 6 wins, as do China. Currently both teams are in the remaining two qualifying positions. It could all change tomorrow as Denmark, Norway and Italy are ready to take advantage of any slip-ups. Already qualified are Switzerland on 9 wins and Canada, Korea and Sweden on 8 wins.

Scotland's games to come are against the aforementioned Denmark at midnight and finally the aforementioned China at 05.00. One win might be enough and two wins would definitely be enough. Mind you, any slip-up could lead to a nervous last session at 10.00 as both China and Denmark finish off their Round Robin games.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland did the sensible thing by beating Denmark 10-5 to put the Danes out of the reckoning and clinch their qualifying place. It did take a remarkable score of 5 shots in the 9th end to do it after a close first 8 ends. It was probably just as well, as they then lost 2-7 to China after only 7 ends, meaning that China made it through too. Not that Scotland would be too worried about that.

Tomorrow's Qualification games are Canada v Scotland and Sweden v China at 01.00, followed by the Semi-finals between the two winners v Korea and Switzerland respectively at 07.00.

[ritchiebaby]

In the first Qualifying Game, Scotland found themselves 1-7 down against Canada after 4 ends, eventually losing 4-10 after 8 ends. In the other game China overcame Sweden 8-7 thanks to a score of 3 shots in the last end.

In the Semi-finals Canada pipped Korea 6-5 after an extra end and Switzerland edged past China 4-2 in a game that included 6 no-scoring ends out of the 10 played.

In the Bronze Medal Game at 01.00 tomorrow, China will play Korea, leaving Canada and Switzerland to fight it out in the Gold Medal Game at 07.00.

In the grand scheme of things, Scotland finished in 6th position, round about where they were expected to finish.

[ritchiebaby]

The Bronze Medal Game saw a strong finish from China who beat Korea 9-4. The score was tied at 4-4 at 7 ends, but China won the last 3 ends for the win. It was much the same story in the Gold Medal Game, where Canada took control late on and despite being 2-3 behind after 6 ends, ran out winners by 7-3 over Switzerland.

MEDAL RESULTS
GOLD - Canada
SILVER - Switzerland
BRONZE - China


CANADA - Rachel Homan (skip), Tracy Fleury (third), Emma Miskew (second), Sarah Wilkes (lead), supported by alternate Rachel Brown
Note - I've named all the right players, but not necessarily in the right order.