Finland win World Wheelchair-B Curling

Host nation Finland defeated Scotland to capture the World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship 2016 title on Thursday (10 November) in Lohja, and with that earned a spot at the World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2017 (WWhCC 2017).

They will be joined by Scotland, whom the Finnish defeated 6-4 in Lohja.

The final teams for the WWhCC 2017 which will be held in PyeongChang, South Korea, are defending champions Russia*, China, Norway, the USA, Canada, Slovakia, Finland, hosts South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland (as Great Britain) and Sweden.

The event will act as the Test Event for the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympic Winter Games.

The gold medal match featured a back-and-forth duel between Finland and Scotland. With the scores level at 4-4 after six ends, Finland scored a single point in the seventh end before stealing a single point in the eighth end for the 6-4 win.

Finnish skip Markku Karjalainen said: “We played relaxed, so we enjoyed the game, that probably also resulted in the good shots. So that was an enjoyable game.”

Scottish skip Aileen Neilsen said after their semi-final game against England: “We’ve had a good week but we knew that was going to be the game that was a huge turning point for us, so we’re absolutely delighted that we’ve made the Worlds next year and also confirmed our place at the Paralympics, so we’re absolutely delighted.”

*Editor’s note: The International Paralympic Committee suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee on 7 August for its inability to fulfil its IPC membership responsibilities and obligations, in particular its obligation to comply with the IPC Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Code (to which it is also a signatory). As a result of the suspension, Russian athletes cannot enter IPC sanctioned events or competitions, including the Paralympic Games. For further information please click here: https://www.paralympic.org/russian-paralympic-committee-suspension