The Latvian men’s curling team suffered a defeat in the fight for the third place in the B division of the European Championship on Saturday, finishing in the fourth place.
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In the fight for the third place, Latvia recognized the superiority of France with 3:10.
The Latvian curlers responded with one to the three points scored by France, and to the point scored by the French in the third end – with a point in the fifth end – 2:4.
France secured the win in the next two ends, scoring four and two points respectively. Latvia was able to win back one point in the eighth end, but the last two ends remained unplayed.
“The maximum result we wanted was not achieved. The goal was to reach the semi-finals, improve last year’s result and qualify for the A division,” the Latvian Curling Association quotes Latvian national team coach Kārļis Smilgas as saying after the tournament.
“Our group turned out to be potentially the strongest (three out of four teams from subgroup B played in the semifinals). Unfortunately, at the end of the tournament, we failed to maintain the quality of play that we had throughout the tournament,” he says.
“Overall, the performance can be assessed as good – we managed to win over the Netherlands and enter the top four. The preparation stage and participation in the tournaments paid off. We have understood our strengths, as well as things that need to be improved in the future,” adds the coach.
In the final, in the battle of two teams that had already secured a place in the A division, the Netherlands beat Finland with 11:6.
It has already been reported that in the semi-finals Latvian curlers recognized the superiority of the Netherlands by 1:13.
Earlier in the group, Latvia defeated the teams of Portugal and the Netherlands (10:8 and 7:6), recognized the superiority of the French with 4:6 in the extra end, beat Hungary with 12:5, Belgium with 9:2, Austria with 12:7, but with Lost 5-8 to Slovenia, beat Wales 12-8 in the last game to reach the semi-finals.
With five wins in seven games, the Latvian national team took third place in its group.
Latvian men’s national team: Mārtiņš Trukšāns (skip), Jānis Klīve, Arnis Veidemanis, Sandris Buholcs, Aivars Avotiņš and coach Kārlis Smilga.
