September 24, 2008

Scotland game 4 v France

Alan Smith, Gillian Howard, David Mundell and Karen Strang were out of the blocks quickly on this one! A three at the first, two more at the second and they were well on their way to their second victory at the European Mixed Curling Championship in Kitzbuehel. They were up 8-1 in the sixth. Lionel Roux managed to get something going and faced the Scottish skip with three when Alan went to play the last stone of the end. He covered the tee, and the teams shook hands!

Do they Scots still have a chance of reaching the semis? Yes, but it's a slim one - their fate is not in their own hands. Only one team goes through by right from each of the three sections. The fourth semifinalist comes from a playoff of the three teams finishing in second spot in each of the groups.

The top two teams in Scotland's section, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, were both undefeated until today's game when they matched up against each other. Jiri Snitil's Czechs took that one, in an extra end.

Scotland must win both remaining games (Slovakia tonight and Latvia tomorrow) and hope that Switzerland slip up against France in their last game tomorrow.

Russia is undefeated with five wins in Section B (which has eight teams), and Sweden are without loss in Section C, which also has eight countries. In total, twenty-three countries are represented at the event!

All the scores are on the official website here.

Top: The Scots in action against the French. Above: Christian Moser and Jiri Snitil in the battle of the undefeated sides in Section A. Pics by Bob.

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