WMXCC2016: we could not leave Kazan empty-handed - the entire city supported us, say team Belarus

The group stage of the World Mixed Curling Championship comes to an end in Kazan.

Norway-Italy, 5-7

The Italians couldn’t afford to lose points in the match against the now-dethroned world champions whereas Norway was eager to make a big exit in their last match. The game was nerve-wracking until the last end but Team Italy, who had a lot at stake, earned a victory and advanced to the playoffs.

“We played badly during the match, although we won. We can do much better than that. We are glad that we took an automatic berth to the playoffs, without mathematical eliminations and tiebreakers. But we need to learn lessons from this game and to do better in the playoffs,” said Fabio Sola, the vice skip of the Italian team.

“We promised to beat them, ‘made arrangements’ with New Zealand’s skip. Of course, we wanted to sweeten the bitterness of our defeats, to ‘sugar the pill’, so to say. But it looks like it’s not our championship. We’ve gained experience but Norway has no right to play like in the future,” admitted Norway’s skip, Christer Wibe.

Romania-Belarus, 5-6

Team Belarus finally claimed its long long-awaited victory at the Kazan tournament and managed to avoid the last place in the group standings. Losing 1-3 during the match, they succeeded to grit out the win they needed so much.

“We are glad that we won. We couldn’t leave Kazan empty-handed; the entire city supported us while the championship was underway; people are incredibly hospitable here. I hope that it will be our first step towards big victories,” Dmitriy Barkan, the vice skip for Team Belarus, said.

Ireland-Slovakia, 6-4

Slovakia was having faint chances of progressing to the next stage in case of a victory but leading 4-3 in the course of the match they were not able to bring it to its logical conclusion.

“We had all the chances to qualify for the round of 16. All we needed today is to beat Team Ireland but we failed to do it. Now we have a lot of free time and we will spend it doing sights and attending playoff matches to support other teams. Of course, we should have tried harder to win; it was our key goal. We failed to achieve it but we believe in the bright future of Slovak curling,” said the second player of Team Slovakia, Jakub Polak.

Hungary-Sweden, 3-8

Sweden easily defeated Hungary in the match for the first place in Group B. However, both teams advanced to the playoffs.

“We took an important victory. The playoff seeding means a lot but we are not afraid of anyone and are ready to play against any team. But it would be shame to break a winning streak. I believe that we need to stretch it to ten games, what do you think?” the Swedish team’s skip, Kristian Lindstroem, admitted.

New Zealand-Scotland, 2-7

New Zealand needed a victory but Team Scotland continued their undefeated path by posting a confident 7-2 win over their opponents.

“In the next matches, in the playoff round, we need to keep playing in the same way as before because we have been doing it quite well. We are pleased that our team is considered one of the playoffs' favourites but we need to stay focused and to achieve our goal. As for the mistakes that we make, we will try to correct them during practices and games. Our main mission is to win victories,” said Team Scotland’s skip, Cameron Bryce.

“Well, our luck has failed us: we lost while Italy won and earned a spot in the playoffs. This is incredible. Today everything can be against us but in the end we will be playing in the playoffs or on the contrary we might not have qualified even if we won. I believe that it’s just the beginning; we made our debut at the world championship and it was not bad! We can still become the best fourth-place team with the best Last-Shot Draw distance (59, 86), but even if we don’t, I think everybody now realised that New Zealand curling has a good future; we are here for the long haul,” shared the second player of the New Zealand team, Kieran Ford.