PyeongChang 2018: China qualify for wheelchair curling semi-finals

China became the first team to qualify for the semi-final stage of the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 wheelchair curling competition after Wednesday (14 March) evening’s session of play in the Gangneung Curling Centre.

China defeated the Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPA) team 10-4 to claim their place in the semi-finals. China scored three points in the first end and followed that with three points in the fourth end to take a 6-3 lead into the break. They went on to score another three points in the sixth end, before a steal of one point in the seventh end was enough for NPA to concede.

"The teamwork went really well, the team members helped each other throughout, we made this good result together,” said China skip Haitao Wang.

“The secret behind this run is that we take a lot of rest, and also that our team is very young. It is one of the important factors. There are still some games left until the end of the round-robin, so we just keep being determined until the end."

Canada beat Slovakia 9-5 to remain in joint second place in the rankings. Canada controlled the first half of the game, scoring two points in the first end, before stealing three points in the second end. Canada followed this with two single-point steals in the third and fourth ends to take a 7-0 lead into the break.

Korea were once again cheered on by a loud and enthusiastic home crowd when they beat Sweden 4-2 in a tense game. They remain third.

Norway won their second game of the day when they defeated Finland 6-4. Norway took a 5-1 lead into the fourth end break, and despite a fightback from Finland, they were run out of stones in the eighth end. With that win, Norway move into joint fourth place with five wins and four losses.

Great Britain faced Germany with both sides coming into the game on the same win-loss record. Britain claimed the 8-3 win to move ahead of Germany in the rankings to put themselves in prime position for a play-off place.

With the scores level at 3-3 after five ends, Great Britain took the lead with a score of three points in the sixth end when skip, Aileen Neilson, drew her final stone into the eight-foot. Great Britain then stole two points in the seventh end after which point Germany conceded the game.

Every competition can be watched live right here on the International Paralympic Committee’s website. Highlights of each day’s action will also be made available.