Canada grab two Sochi 2014 wins in wheelchair curling

Canada picked up their first win in the morning session of play as skip Jim Armstrong and his team defeated Great Britain in what proved to be a game of two halves.

Reigning world champions Canada won their first two games on opening day of play of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games wheelchair curling competition taking place in the Ice Cube Curling Centre.

Canada picked up their first win in the morning session of play as skip Jim Armstrong and his team defeated Great Britain in what proved to be a game of two halves.

Great Britain’s Aileen Neilson, the only female skip in the competition, stole single points in the first two ends to take a two point lead.

Canada then levelled the game in the third end, scoring two points before Great Britain scored another single point to take the lead at 3-2 going into the fourth end break.

After scoring a single point in the fifth end, Canada then stole a single point in the sixth end to take the lead for the first time in the game.

In the seventh end, Canada’s Armstrong was facing two British counting stones when he made a hit and rolled behind cover. Great Britain skip Neilson could not get the weight right with her final stone giving Canada another single point steal and a crucial two point advantage going into the eighth and final end.

Canada rounded off the game with another steal of one point to leave the final score 6-3 in their favour.

On the next sheet, Norway defeated Korea 10-0 in only six ends. After blanking the first two ends Norway took the lead that they were never to lose in the third end.

The final blow for Korea came in the sixth end when Norway took another four points after which point Korea conceded the game.

Afterwards, Norway skip Rune Lorentsen said: “Today they (Korea) didn't find the ice. It curls a lot so if you're a little bit too weak on the light take-outs it curls over. We had some of them so we had to increase the speed a little bit."

Slovakia made a winning start in the Paralympic debut as they defeated USA, 6-4.

Slovakia took an early 3-0 lead after two ends, which they would never lose. USA did battle back however, taking a single point in the third end before stealing a single point in the fourth end.

After the break, Slovakia took control of the game, taking a single point in the fifth end. In the next end, skip Radoslav Duris made a hit and roll in the eight foot ring to sit behind cover which eventually led to another steal of one point to give them a 5-2 lead.

Although USA scored another two points in the seventh end Slovakia rounded of the game with a score of one point to win the game 6-4.

Hosts Russia got off with a win as well in their game against last year’s world bronze medallists, China, to the delight of the large, vocal home support.

The key moment in this game came in the sixth end when Russia skip Andrey Smirnov drew behind a guard to force China skip Haitao Wang to also play a draw. However, the Chinese skip was light and gave up a steal of one point as Russia went on to win by a single point – 5-4.

After the game, Smirnov was grateful for the large number of Russian’s who turned out to support his team. He said: “I was caught off guard by it at first; it was very unexpected. After my ears adjusted it didn't sound like noise, it sounded like support.”

In the afternoon session, Canada picked up their second win of the day against hosts Russia. It was a tight game throughout with the score tied at 2-2 at the fourth end break, and it was not until the eighth end that Canada sealed their victory.

Sweden started their Paralympic campaign in the afternoon and got off to a great start, defeating Paralympic debutants Finland, 7-6.

Both teams swapped scores of three points in the first two ends, but Finland edged in front 5-4 by the fourth end break thanks to a score of two points in the fourth end.

The seventh end proved the turning point for Sweden. With his first stone, Sweden skip Jalle Jungnell made a takeout to which ended up behind cover.

This forced pressure on Finland and with his last shot, Finnish skip Markku Karjalainen was light with his last draw giving Sweden a steal of one point and a crucial two point lead going into the last end.

As Finland could only score one point in the last end, Sweden took the win.

South Korea then bounced back from their heavy loss to Norway earlier in the day to beat USA, 9-5. Norway lost to China in their second game by a score of 7-3.

Wheelchair curling play resumes on Sunday (9 March) at 9:30 (MSK) followed by another session at 15:30 (MSK).