[ritchiebaby]

Back from spending yet more of my money - sorry, guys and gals (am I allowed to say that?) but only I can apply for funds - I'm going to do a big catch-up on the Junior Championships, currently being held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. They only have the Semi-finals and Finals to play in both the Men's and Women's events, culminating in Saturday's Finals.

Only Scotland's men have qualified from the Home Nations for these Championships and are represented by James Craik (skip), Mark Watt, Blair Haswell, Niall Ryder and Angus Bryce (AB from my home ice rink). After losing their first 2 games against Italy and Russia, they really got going, winning the next 7 against Sweden, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, USA and Canada.

The upshot is that they lead after the round-robin games and play Switzerland in the Semi-finals tomorrow with Canada playing Germany in the other. The Women's Semi-finals are also tomorrow with Korea playing Japan and Canada playing Russia.

[ritchiebaby]

It seems that I managed to give the Scottish Junior Men the kiss of death in my report last night. This morning they went down 6-9 to Switzerland after losing 3 shots in each of the 6th and 8th ends. Scotland were only 1 down in the last end, but Switzerland won with a take-out with their last stone. Canada won the other Semi-final after a 7-4 win over Germany.

Switzerland play tomorrow in the Gold/Silver Game. Scotland and Germany will fight it out for the Bronze Medal in the same session.

The Junior Ladies Semi-finals are in progress as I type.

[ritchiebaby]

In the Men's Final, Canada dominated throughout to secure the Gold Medal with a 7-2 win over Switzerland. Scotland squeezed through 6-5 against Germany to win a deserved Bronze with a score of 3 shots in the 7th end making all the difference.

The Women's Final was much closer with Canada scoring in the last 2 ends completed to edge out Korea in a 7-5 win to claim Gold. The Bronze Game was a very one-sided affair with Russia winning 14-4 against Japan, including scores of 5 in the 3rd end and 4 in the 7th.

As is the case in most World Championships, Canada are once again dominant with the others fighting it out for the lesser prizes.