Wheelchair Curling Worlds: Day 1

Slovakia, Russia and USA begin Championships with two wins apiece. 19 Feb 2012
Imagen
Curling competition in Vancouver Paralympic Games

Wheelchair Curling at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games.

ⒸGetty Images
By IPC

Qualification points for the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games will be awarded at the end of the Championships.

Slovakia created the surprise of the opening day of play at the 2012 World Wheelchair Curling Championships in Chuncheon, Korea on Sunday (19 February) by winning its two opening games in its first-ever appearance.

Skip Radoslav Duris was at a loss for words after beating 2011 bronze medallists Norway, 9-8, in the morning session.

“It was a very hard match,” Duris said. “(Norway is) one of the best teams here. In the end, we won by only one stone.”

The Slovaks then went on to beat Italy, 10-1, in the afternoon session, joining Russia and USA as the three teams to open the Championships with a pair of wins.

Skip Andrey Smirnov, meanwhile, led the Russians to a 9-3 win over Sweden in the morning. Russia’s run of luck continued as it went on to beat China, 4-1

USA was the only other team to emerge from the first day unbeaten. With Patrick McDonald skipping after being the team’s alternate at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, he led his teammates to a 7-6 victory over host nation Korea.

In its afternoon game, Sweden needed one point to tie the game up in the eighth end and force an extra end, but Swedish Skip Jalle Jungnell’s hit rolled out and handed the Americans a 4-3 win.

Canada, China, Scotland and Korea ended the first day with one win and one loss each.

Canada the defending world and Paralympic champions, won its opening game against Italy, 7-4, but then struggled to get on the board against Korea, falling 7-1.

The 10 teams competing will continue the round-robin format through Thursday and then begin the semi-finals Friday.

Qualification points for the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games. will be awarded at the end of the Championships.

Standings:

Russia 2-0

Slovakia 2-0

USA 2-0

Canada 1-1

China 1-1

Scotland 1-1

Korea 1-1

Italy 0-2

Norway 0-2

Sweden 0-2