Oestersund, Sweden
Friday 27 April 2018
Japan, Korea, Sweden and Russia advance to the quarter-finals of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2018 in Oestersund, Sweden, with wins in the first session of the Last 16 play-off stage.
After beginning the championship with two losses, Japan have fought their way back to the quarter-finals with a win 10-2 over Scotland in the Last 16. Japan took an early four-point lead at the break when the Japanese made a soft weight tap for two points in the fourth end.
In the fifth end, Scotland had a missed opportunity for two points, only scoring a single point after a roll out on their takeout. The game took a strong turn in the sixth end after Satsuki Fujisawa skimmed a centre guard, making a double takeout for three points. Japan followed with a steal of two points in the seventh end to make the final score 10-2 after seven ends.
The Korean Olympic team held on against the Finnish Olympic team, winning 9-7 to secure their place in the quarter-finals.
Finland had a strong comeback despite being down 5-0 after two ends scoring three points over the next two ends to trail 5-3 at the break.
Then, in the fifth end, Korea’s Hyeji Jang made a pick for four points giving them a 9-3 advantage.
Finland responded with a takeout for three points on their power play in the sixth end, followed by a steal of one point in the seventh end to close the gap.
In the eighth end, Finland crashed on a stone during their draw to the button, giving Korea the win, 9-7. The Koreans will face Japan in their next match.
Hosts Sweden faced China and progressed to the quarter-finals with an 8-5 win. Sweden scored two points in the first end and China responded with two points of their own in the second end, tying up the score.
Sweden aimed for tight positioning of stones throughout the game, freezing out China’s shots and aiming for take-outs, giving them a score of one point in the third end then steals of two points in both the fourth and fifth ends.
In an attempt to close the gap, China used their power-play in the sixth end but were only able to score two points and trail Sweden by 4-7. Sweden continued their strategy of tight shots in the seventh end, increasing their lead over China with one more point on their way to their 8-5 win.
Russia started the game strong against Norway, scoring two points in the first end, then stealing two more points in the second end on their way to an 8-1 win. Norway scored a single point in the third end when Russia missed a takeout on the last shot, which would be their only point of the game.
Russia took a 5-1 lead into the break, then in the second half applied increasing pressure to Norway forcing steals of one point in the fifth, sixth and seventh ends on the way to their win.
Russia will now face Sweden in this evenings quarter-finals.
They said it
Daniil Goriachev; Russia (after 8-1 win over Norway): "During the game we focused on each end and tried to score in all of them. And we wanted this to be the best game we played in this tournament. We were a little nervous in the sixth end because we had a hard last stone, but we got it and that's good."
Hyeji Jang; Korea (after 9-7 win over Finland): "I think we are good at the takeouts. They [Finland] like draws and slow weights, but we are good at the high weights and I think that's a strong point for us. We had a really great experience at the Olympics and so we grew. And here we developed with ever team we played so that helped."
Camilla Noreen; Sweden (after 8-5 win over China): "We played like we always play and there was no different strategy this game. We always try to put our stones in the best angles and it's a lot about that in our game. You always learn from a game and we'll have a little talk to see what we can improve going forward."
J.D. Lind; coach, Japan (after 10-2 win over Scotland): "We’ll just review this game really quickly. This game went really well but the ice was definitely a little bit different, so they did a great job reading it and I think a lot of the discussion will be around making sure that we understand the ice conditions for the next game. If we play well I think we’ll have a good chance. Things are good right now."
Last 16 session one: Japan 10-2 Scotland; Korea 9-7 Finland; Sweden 8-5 China; Norway 1-8 Russia.
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