Team Muirhead keeps World Championship medal hopes alive

Still in with a chance of a medal after two fine victories

Two strong wins by Eve Muirhead’s Scottish women at the CPT World Women’s Curling Championship in Beijing yesterday have kept their medal hopes alive.

The Scots’ victories secured a place in tomorrow’s Page play-off.

Not only that, their final ranking of at least fourth has secured a place for a Great Britain team in the line-up for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Korea.

The Scots’ first game was against Germany and, with the last stone of the ninth end, Muirhead hit out a German stone for three shots to win by 7-2.

Later, in the evening session, the Scots faced the Czech Republic, with both teams still in with a chance of making the play-offs.

It was the Scots who scored the first blow, taking a single shot from the first end. The Czechs levelled with one in the second end and then, after blanking the third, the Scots scored a two in the fourth end for a 3-1 lead. This could have been a three but Muirhead came up short with her final draw.

The Czech skip Anna Kubeskova, who had good draw weight all game, drew nicely in the fifth end to score two and level the score at 3-3. In the sixth end, Muirhead just feathered a Czech stone on the way in with her final stone, but even at that, the Scots still scored one point to take a 4-3 lead, but only after an umpire’s measure.

In the seventh end, Kubeskova played another well-judged draw right onto the button to score two points and take the lead at 5-4. The teams swapped good final draws for one point each in the eighth and ninth ends and eventually, Muirhead took out a Czech stone at the back of the house with her own final effort of the tenth end, to score the two points that gave her team a 7-6 win and let them grab the fourth play-off slot.

The Scots now face Sweden in tomorrow’s Page 3-4 play-off game, while Russia beat China by 6-4, putting them on the Page 1-2 game for the first time, this evening, against so far unbeaten Canada.

Muirhead said: “That was a good game, she played some cracking draws to keep them in the game. We were patient, which was key out there. The ice was tricky – the trickiest it’s been, but we adapted to it pretty quickly.

“Our first goal was to make the playoffs and we’ve ticked that box. Our next goal is to make the semi-final and onwards from there.”

We were patient, which was key out there. The ice was tricky – the trickiest it’s been, but we adapted to it pretty quickly. EVE MUIRHEAD

Picture: AP. Eve Muirhead’s rink still have medal hopes after two wins in Beijing yesterday.