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China’s young curlers win medals for the first time in history – gold, Scotland wins the girls’ competition

One round matches were played in both competitions. After the main tournament, the best four in both the girls’ and boys’ competition entered the semi-finals. In the girls’ competition after the main tournament, the Swiss women remained unbeaten, and suffered their first loss in the semi-finals against Japan. Japan’s three points in the last end 7-5 earned them a place in the final. Their opponents were determined in the battle between Scotland and Norway, in which the last end also determined the winners. Thanks to two points, Scotland won the place in the final with 6:5.

In the final game after a nil in the first end, Scotland create a great chance in the second and take the three points. In the third, Japan reduces the score difference to -1 (2:3), but in the fourth, the stolen two points, thanks to the last too strong shot of the Scottish skip, allow to steal two and take the lead with +1 (4:3). Although during the big break, the Scots evened the score, after that Japan dominated until the ninth end, leading 7-4.

At the end of the ninth end, a responsible and accurate shot is made by the Scottish skip, which makes it possible to level the score again at 7:7. It was all decided by the well-placed Scottish stones in the 10th end, which forced Japan to throw one last shot against Scotland’s two stones in the house. The throw turned out to be too strong, the Scots stole two points 9:7 and won the title of world champion again since 2012. On the other hand, Japan went on to win the championship honor for the second year in a row.

In the bronze medal match, Norway played better in the middle part of the game, which allowed them to gain a three-point advantage 6:3, which they managed to hold until the end of the game 8:5, giving Switzerland, who played prefect in the main tournament, the second loss in a row directly in the play-off round. As a result, Norway returned to the podium after a break of 17 championships.

It should be reminded that the Latvian girls’ team won only Canada (10:6) in nine games of the main tournament, but played tight games with the other teams: Sweden 4:7, Scotland 5:8, Germany 3:8, Switzerland 7:8, Korea 4:8 , Norway 5:6, USA 7:9, Japan 5:7. Therefore, together with the USA, Germany and Canada, they have to leave the top division in order to try to return to it in the next season, competing in the B division.

Latvian national team coach Iveta Staša-Šaršūne’s comment after the championship:
“Although this championship did not end on the most pleasant note, valuable experience and many valuable insights have been gained.
In general, the level of understanding and performance of the curling game of all the participants of the championship has increased during the last three years, since Latvia also started in it, and now it can be said that the teams are very equal. This is also confirmed by the results of our girls’ games and the fight to the last stone.
Thanks to the fans for the positive thoughts and wishes!”

In the boys’ competition Germany and Scotland finished the main tournament with seven wins from nine games, with Germany coming out on top thanks to a win in their head-to-head. In the semi-finals, the Germans met Norway, beating it 9-6 and entering the final. In which they faced China, who defeated Scotland 8-1 in the second semi-final.

In front of their home crowd, Germany started the game with a zero in the first end, only to win two points in the second with the last shot. The opponents of the court get three in the next end and take the lead 3:2, supplementing the points stock with one stolen in the fourth 4:2.

Although Germany achieves only a minimal result difference of -1 (3:4) going into the big break, yet in the sixth with a perfect last throw to the house, China once again wins three in the game and is now in the lead 7:3. It looked like the game would be decided, but the home team was able to recover, scoring two in the seventh end and stealing a run each in the next two ends to go into the 10th end tied at 7-7. The Chinese skip takes the right of the last shot in this end and puts the stone home closer to the center to celebrate China’s first medal at the junior championships, a gold one at that. On the other hand, Germany, just like a year ago, is again hanging silver medals.

The game for the 3rd place started better for Scotland, which was in the lead with 5:3 after five ends. They managed to increase this advantage in the final part of the game, celebrating the victory over Norway with 11:4 and last year’s gold this time against bronze medals.

The composition of the Latvian junior girls’ national team: Evelina Barone (skip), Rēzija Ieviņa, Veronika Apse, Erika Patricija Bitmet, Marija Seliverstova, coach Iveta Staša-Šaršūne.

The results of the decisive games in the girls’ competition:

9:7 Scotland – Japan /final/
8:5 Norway – Switzerland /game for 3rd place/

The results of the decisive games in the boys’ competition:

8:7 China – Germany /final/
11:4 Scotland – Norway /game for 3rd place/

Overall rating in the girls’ competition

PlaceCountry
1.Scotland
2.Japan
3.Norway
4.Switzerland
5.Sweden
6.Korea
7.ASVto the B division
8.Canadato the B division
9.Germanyto the B division
10.Latviato the B division

Overall rating in the boys’ competition

PlaceCountry
1.China
2.Germany
3.Scotland
4.Norway
5.Italy
6.Switzerland
7.ASVto the B division
8.Canadato the B division
9.Koreato the B division
10.Turkeyto the B division

The Latvian girls’ national team competes in the world championship with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science.

Results: https://worldcurling.org/events/wjc…

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