WMXCC2016: the stone slid well today, it was a lucky day for us, team Hungary admits

More matches were contested in the afternoon of the third competition day at the World Mixed Curling Championships in Kazan.

Slovakia-Hungary, 3-7

The Hungarian team started the match well and kept a steady pace to earn a victory over Slovakia. It’s their second victory at the tournament whereas their opponents suffered their first defeat in Kazan.

“The stone slid well on the ice; it was a lucky day for us. We are very happy that we won and preserved our playoff chances. Curling is not as popular in Hungary as it is in Russia and Scotland but we train to the maximum and dedicate our victories to all our compatriots. We want to get into the playoffs, to enter the top four, to win medals but ahead of us there are many challenging matches against strong teams and all of them want to win,” the Hungarian team’s skip, Zsolt Kiss, shared in his post-match interview.

Norway-New Zealand, 0-8

One of the major contenders for the championship title, Norway, sustained a disheartening shutout at the hands of New Zealand. Apparently, the Scandinavians were not able to recover after yesterday’s exhausting game against Romania and their opponents made avail of it, claiming a shocking victory.

“The younger generation substituted the older generation in our national team; we have young players now. But it’s still not an excuse. There’s no excuse for that,“ Christer Wibe, the skip for the Norwegian team, said after the bitter defeat.

“I still can’t believe it happened. It was amazing! Surely, we hadn’t expected to win. As you know Norway is one of the strongest teams in all rankings. But we put our faith in ourselves. It’s the first time we play at a major tournament with this roster; I act as a skip for the first time here. We needed to achieve better teamwork to show a good result. We played well yesterday but luck was not on our side. Today we had a payback,” noted Team New Zealand’s skip, Brett Sargon.

Austria-USA, 4-6

After two consecutive defeats, the US team finally earned their first points at the tournament, gaining the upper hand over Team Austria in a dramatic match.

“We finished just shy of the victory today but we had hopes until the end of the match. So far luck was on our side. We still have a good chance of moving to the playoffs and we will fight till the end. The US team performed really well; I congratulate them on the victory,” said Hannah Augustin, the vice skip of the Austrian team.

Germany-Switzerland, 5-4

The German curlers were leading after six ends, but Switzerland managed to pull off a miraculous comeback and to even the score. However, Team Germany proved to be stronger in the final eighth end.

“We can be proud of our game; we played well, earned a victory against a strong team and increased our odds of advancing to the next round. Curling is not so popular in Germany as football is. Everyone is obsessed with it, including me. Maybe, I will come to Russia for the FIFA World Cup if Team Germany will play there. No ifs. Of course, it will play!” said Andy Kapp, one of the players of the German team.

Croatia-Wales, 6-7

In an extremely nerve-wracking match, the Welsh team gut out a win in an extra end despite trailing behind Croatia during the course of the match, 2-0, 4-3. It’s their first victory in Kazan.

“Today we had a really tough game; it’s good that we stayed focused and eventually gained the well-deserved victory. We like it here, in Russia. The facilities are great; the curling sheet is very good,” admitted the Welsh team’s skip, Andrew Tanner.