China, Sweden and Canada advance to the Paralympic semifinals
The last day of round-robin games began with four games on Thursday morning at the National Aquatics Center.
At the beginning of the 15thth session, no team had qualified for the semifinals, but China, Sweden and Canada had a chance to do so, with a morning victory.
Reigning Paralympic champions China met Great Britain, Sweden took on the United States, Canada played against Norway, while Slovakia met Switzerland.
China, Sweden and Canada won their matches and qualified for the playoffs. The fourth winner of the session was Slovakia.
China v Great Britain
When they entered this match, China shared first place in the table with Sweden, and a victory over Great Britain meant a semi-final qualifier for them.
China made a single in the first end. Britain put two on the board in the second after two perfect draws by their fourth player Gregor Ewan.
In the third, China’s defender Wang Haitao pulled to the empty house to take a single and level the game at 2-2.
Gregor Ewan was forced to an exact draw to take a single back in the fourth. He did it perfectly to pick one up and regain the lead at 3-2, when he went into the break.
China made two in the fifth. In the sixth, they followed it up with a single steal after a perfect double take by Wang and a missed take by Ewan.
China stole another single in the seventh when Ewan was heavy with his last draw.
The team went to the eighth end with 6-3, China leading.
In the eighth, China finally ran Britain out of the rocks, won the match and qualified for the playoffs.
After the match, Chinese main player Yan Zhuo said: “I was just trying to do well and I have collaborated with the runner-up and the jumper.”
Speaking of qualifying for the playoffs, she added, “We’re happy about it and I just hope to be able to make the best of myself in the next few days.”
She also commented that they had the support of their fans in the stands and said: “Their cheers only encourage us and make us perform even better.”
Sweden against the USA
Top-ranked Sweden had six-two win-loss records when they entered the match against the United States, knowing that a victory would mean playoff qualification for them. The United States was looking for its fifth victory of the week in its ninth game this morning.
The USA scored two points in the first end, partly thanks to Sweden skipping Viljo Pettersson-Dahl’s miss on their last selection attempt.
The Swede slammed the other end and carried the hammer over to the third.
In the third end, the American ship Matthew Thums came up heavy with his last stone, which gave Sweden the opportunity to make four. However, Pettersson-Dahl’s last attempt at a draw came to an end, and the Scandinavians scored only three.
In the fourth, Thums was heavy with his last draw attempt again and the USA gave up a steal of two points.
The team went to the break with 5-2 at half time, Sweden leading.
The United States came back strong in the fifth end, and after a heavy equalizer by Pettersson-Dahl, the Americans made four to regain the lead at 6-5.
In the sixth, the United States stole a single point when Pettersson-Dahl’s promotion attempt failed and left the American counter as firing squad.
When they went into the seventh end, the Americans led the match 7-5. To that end, Sweden continued to put stone after stone in the house, and the United States could not remove them.
The Swede finished with five points and regained the lead at 10-7.
In the eighth United States ran out of stones.
Pettersson-Dahl commented on their qualification for the playoffs, “It feels fantastic! That was the first goal, and we have achieved it so it feels fantastic.”
When he talked about the game, he added, “It was a real roller coaster and we are not used to it. But we had a lot of misses and they did too, so we gave points to each other it felt like. But I am really pleased that we made two good finishes in the seventh and the last, it shows our mental strength I think. ”
Canada v Norway
Before this match, Canada was placed in third place in the rankings with six wins and three losses. Based on the standings, a victory in this match-up would mean a semi-final place for them.
Before this match, Norway took four wins and collected five losses. They shook up their lineup for this game, and the original deputy Mia Sveberg played lead stones, while the original second player Geir Arne Skogstad sat on the bench.
Norway could have made two in the first end, but their skipping Ole Fredrik Syversen fell short with his last draw and had to settle for a single.
In the second end, Canada made a single back with an exact draw by its fourth player Jon Thurston.
In the third and fourth end, the team exchanged single points again to go into the break with 2-2.
The game’s first breakthrough came in the fifth end, when Norway put three points on the board partly due to their exact selections.
In the sixth, Canada made two right-backs to close the gap between the teams to a single point.
In the eighth end, Syversen’s freeze attempt with his last was not perfect and it left Thurston with a withdrawal for three points. He did it perfectly, resulting in three points for Canada and a 7-6 win.
After the match, Canadian runner-up Dennis Thiessen said: “I did not realize we qualified, but it’s great! It’s been hard, just patience, patience, patience. So it has paid off. We had patience all the way through, and we knew we were getting our chances and if it was a miss we would take advantage of it and I think that made the difference in the eighth end there. he [Ole Fredrik Syversen] came just a little too heavy there and rolled away and gave us a chance for the win. So that was perfect. “
Slovakia vs. Switzerland
Slovakia were placed fourth in the rankings before the match with five or three win-losses, in the knowledge that a victory would keep their semi-final hopes alive. Switzerland strived for its second victory in its ninth match.
The Swiss took advantage of their last advantage in the first end and made two.
In the second and third end, the team exchanged single points with a hammer.
In the fourth, the Slovak fourth player Peter Zatko missed his double selection attempt, which resulted in a steal of one for Switzerland.
The Swiss led the match at half time, 4-1.
In the fifth and sixth end, the team exchanged two points.
In the seventh, Slovakia scored five points in part due to their exact draw and an exceptional hit-and-roll by Zatko with his final stone.
The team went into the eighth end with an 8-6 result, Slovakia leading for the first time in the match.
In the eighth final, Slovakia eventually ran Switzerland out of the rocks and took their sixth victory of the week.
Session 13 results: Canada 7-6 Norway; China 6-3 Great Britain; Slovakia 8-6 Switzerland; Sweden 10-7 USA
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