WMXCC2016: quarterfinals lineup complete

Russia, Germany, Switzerland and Korea became one step closer to gold medals.

Turkey-Germany, 1-10

During the final match of the group stage the Turkish team had rattled the nerves of their opponents but today, at the start of the playoffs, the German curlers were unstoppable. They cruised through to the quarterfinal with a blowout win.

“It was a great match, we displayed a confident play but I think the reason of our win is in the way the Turkish team played. It’s a very strong team. The previous match was a struggle for us but today their skip had hard time delivering the shots so it was not their lucky day. Now we wait for an opponent; it doesn’t matter who we will play against; there are no easy teams in the quarterfinals. We will not watch and analyse our opponents’ game. We will focus on our own match. Even if we lead with a good score, everything may happen in curling; we need to play the game to the end,” noted the second player of Team Germany, Holger Hoehne.

Switzerland-Finland, 7-1

The Swiss team had little trouble powering past their opponents with an overwhelming win. The Finnish curlers managed to score only one stone.

“We just went out and did it. I don’t think that we should discuss tactics much, of course it's important but in the course of the tournament you just need to put faith in yourself, have enough sleep and play your game. And in the playoffs you need to go all out, to show the maximum of your abilities,” the skip of the Swiss team, Martin Rios, summed up the results of the match.

“It was a bad game for us; luck was not on our side. We’ve invested too much effort in yesterday’s tiebreak match,” Jere Sullanmaa, the fourth player of the Finnish national team, said regretfully.

Russia-Italy, 9-1

The hosts had easy time earning a confident defeat over Team Italy who played unevenly at the Kazan tournament, going through a roller-coaster alternation of wins and losses. The Russians started to dictate the run of play from the outset and kept the lead until the final end. 

“We did well at the recent matches but today we failed everything. Our key goal was to qualify for the playoffs and we’ve accomplished it. But in the elimination round we stood little chance, especially against the hosts, Team Russia. I congratulate your team on the victory!” said the fourth player of the Italian team, Fabio Sola.

“We’ve been preparing hard for the game, and it didn’t matter who were going to be paired with. Everything may happen in the elimination round – any team can put up a good fight. It’s not just empty words – there have been precedents before. Now we are going to play against Switzerland, and it’s a strong team. The match will start in a few hours and at the moment all we need is to simply relax and to get physically and morally ready to go out on the ice, refreshed and ready to win,” admitted the second player of the Russian national team, Daniil Goryachev.

“I cannot say that Kazan impressed me in any way but the event management is really top-class. Most importantly, we play at home; fans support us, each game gathers hundreds of supporters. It’s both a great responsibility and comfort. I want to thank all those who support us; we will do our best not to let you down!” added Daniil.

Korea-Poland, 7-4

The Korea-Poland match was the longest one in the session. The intense battle lasted until the end of the match and eventually the Asian curlers managed to edge out their opponents and to qualify for the quarterfinal.

“It’s unbelievable! We did it! The main thing for now is to have some rest and in the evening we have another match,” admitted the second number of the Korean team, Seong Yujin.

The following teams will face off in the quarterfinals:

Japan - Sweden

Russia - Switzerland

Scotland - Canada

Germany - Korea