WMXCC2016: no more kidding around, any defeat is fatal now, team Canada say

Canada, Japan, Sweden and Scotland are the first quarterfinalists of the World Mixed Curling Championship in Kazan. 

Canada-Czech Republic, 6-2

The Canadian curlers faced off the Czech Republic in the round of 16. The match was packed with action but Canada managed to post a confident win over their opponents and continued their unbeaten run.

“It was a good, important game. No more kidding around. Any defeat is fatal now. The Czech curlers fought well; we are grateful to them for the game; in the second end their skip delivered a great takeout. Our play is far from being perfect yet; there’s still a lot to improve in our game. Our next opponents are Team Scotland; it will be a completely different game, a new level,” said the Michael Lizmore, the skip of the Canadian team.

“Our goal was to make it the playoffs, but the appetite comes with eating. We are disappointed a little bit. And it’s not that we failed to progress to the next round but that we were not able to show our best game,” said Team Czech Republic’s skip, Jakub Bares.

Hungary-Japan, 2-5

Both teams had done brilliantly at the Kazan tournament and had gained five victories each in the group stage. Being seeded equally, both teams fought tooth and nail until the end. Only a few mistakes allowed Hungary to force the game into an extra end.

“We counted on this victory. It’s a shame to leave the tournament so early; we had much bigger plans. Now we are about to learn our lessons and begin gearing up for next tournaments,” noted the skip of the Hungarian team, Zsolt Kiss.

“It’s just the first step. We are happy that we moved into the quarterfinal. It’s a huge success but we still have a lot of work to do. Right now we have several hours to have some rest, to collect out thoughts and to get ready for the next match,” the fourth number of the Japanese team, Mayumi Okutsu, said after the match.

New Zealand-Sweden, 6-8

It seemed that the match between the first-seeded and sixteenth-seeded teams will not be able to offer any intense and hard-fought battle, however this very game turned out to be the most fascinating one among all the round of 16 matches played.

“We qualified for the playoffs as the best fourth-place team with the best Last-Shot Draw distance. We paid a lot of attention to this component and even practiced it specifically. It was a great tournament for us, first-timers of the curling world who don’t have their own ice arena at home, no financing, but managed to advance to the playoffs in Russia, hundreds of miles away from their country, and fight against Sweden, the curling powerhouse! My team are heroes; it’s a story worthy of a Hollywood movie!” said Elizabeth Matthews, the coach of the New Zealand national team.

“We are glad that we progressed to the quarterfinal – it’s a huge success but there are some things that need to be addressed. We failed the start of the match. New Zealand showed a great game; we want to thank them for unveiling all the weak spots in our team – we will analyse them after the match. However, the way we played in the first ends is not the path that we should follow. Our goal is to win gold,” said the third player of the Swedish team, Jennie Waahlin.

Scotland-USA, 4-1

The match was one of the shortest ones in the round of 16. But it didn’t mean that it was not packed with intrigue, action and drama.

“The match was tough; in the playoffs you need to be focused and self-confident. No matter who you play against. The US team is a good one; there are no random teams in the elimination round. Now we will play against Canada; it’s an amazing team but we are not afraid of anyone. Scotland is the home of curling; it puts faith in you but also places some extra pressure,” Sophie Jackson, the first player of the Scottish national team, admitted in her interview.