MXCC2016: we aim for gold and nothing but gold, us curlers admit

On the second day of the World Mixed Curling Championship in Kazan, the tournament's favourites continue their steady march toward victory in playoffs.

Czech Republic-Russia, 5-7

On Day 2, the host team claimed its second victory at the tournament. The Russians built a comfortable lead in the second and fourth ends and dominated the game until the very end of the match.

"We were controlling the course of the game. We've been mentally preparing ourselves for the match against the Czech Republic rather than against Spain because we knew that it's a serious opponent. We had competed against each other before. But today we held control over the game and easily won by a wide margin. All is great in Kazan. We like everything here," Russia's vice skip, Anastasia Bryzgalova, shared her impression of the game.

Korea-USA, 6-5

The match between South Korea and the USA turned out to be quite dramatic and fun to watch. The outcome of the match was decided in an extra end and the South Korean curlers proved to be stronger than their star-spangled opponents who suffered their second defeat at the tournament.

"We played against very strong teams - Korea, Canada. These are curling powerhouses. But today we played much better than yesterday. The progress is obvious. We will keep forging ahead and we aim for gold and nothing but gold," said the US team's skip, Fred Maxie.

He also shared his impression of the Kazan tournament.

"I played in different curling disciplines; I've been competing in this sport for more than 27 years now. The Kazan championship is as good as previous editions. That's for sure, and it's even better in some aspects. The organisers did a great job. Everything is great: arena, ice, hotel. I haven't done any sights yet but I've already been to local restaurants and I liked them very much. Everything is awesome here," the US curler said.

Estonia-Turkey, 5-10

The Estonian curlers won the first end in the match against Team Turkey but soon after that they threw away the lead to go down 5-10.

"I want our team to advance out of the group stage. We won the first match, so we still have a good chance to achieve that. I hope that Estonia will make it to the world's top 15 curling teams. And, of course, we would like to compete at the Olympics someday. I'm looking forward to seeing the mixed gender curling event in the Olympic programme. I've started playing curling relatively recently, just a year-a year and a half ago, but I've already achieved some good results; I will keep working on it," Estonia's vice skip, Erika Tuvike, shared in her post-match interview.

"Here in Kazan, there are so many curling fans; I've never seen something like this before! I want to thank all those who came to support us; it was really nice to play in front of full stands. I hope that curling will become more popular but everyone will need to invest efforts in it: athletes, organisers and even you, journalists," the curler said.

Japan-Belarus, 6-5

Belarus suffered defeat in the hands of the Japanese team by a narrow margin. They were leading 4-2 and 5-4 before the eighth end, but failed to maintain the supremacy until the end of the match.

"We did badly in the final ends, we lost but it's not a big deal, it's only the first game. Our goal is to make it out of the group stage, and I'm positive that we will be able to do that. We always enjoy staying in Russia: it's nice to compete, play and visit places here. We want to thank all those who support us; we will try to not let them down," said the Belarusian curler, Andrei Yurkevich.

Croatia-Slovenia, 6-4

The Slovenian team won the second end with 2-0, but their opponents managed to turn the tables to take the lead after five ends, 5-2. It was Croatia who eventually took an upper hand in the match.