Team Sweden edges South Korea in key matchup

It’s not often Team Sweden, skipped by Anna Hasselborg, loses two games in a row, and she wasn’t about to let it happen Wednesday at the 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by Nature’s Bounty.

The Swedes, who dropped a tense 10-8 decision in the morning draw to Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson, rebounded nicely in the evening to defeat skip EunJung Kim’s Team South Korea 7-3 in a matchup of top teams battling for glory at CN Centre in Prince George, B.C. 

The top six teams in the 13-team, round-robin competition qualify for the playoffs.

The win lifted Team Sweden to a 7-2 record and trailing only Team Switzerland, skipped by Silvana Tirinzoni, at the top of the standings. The Swiss have won all eight of their games and are the only undefeated team in the competition.

The South Koreans dropped their second straight game to fall into a third-place tie with Team Canada at 6-2.

The Canadians won their sixth game without having to throw a rock. They were awarded a default win over Team Scotland which had to drop out of the competition due to COVID-19 concerns earlier in the week.

The Canadians resume play Thursday when they take on Team United States, skipped by Cory Christensen at 9 a.m. (all times PT). The Americans, who had an evening bye, are one game behind the Canadians and South Koreans and tied with skip Madeleine Dupont’s Team Denmark for fifth place, both with 5-3 records.

Meanwhile, Team Japan’s playoff hopes were dealt a blow after suffering a 7-3 loss to the Czech Republic’s Alzbeta Baudysova (2-6). The Japanese, skipped by Ikue Kitazawa, saw its record fall to 5-4.

In the final game of the evening, Stefania Constantini and her team from Italy picked up a second win to improve to 2-7. Italy defeated Turkey’s Team Dilsat Yildiz 9-7 in an extra end. Turkey is coming close to finding wins, but has an 0-8 record.

Teams Denmark, Germany and Norway also had the evening bye.

The 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship continues Thursday with draws at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship are available by CLICKING HERE.

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For ticket information for the 2022 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Women’s Curling Championship, go to www.curling.ca/2022worldwomen/tickets/

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2022worldwomen/nouvelles/?lang=fr