Two comebacks but two defeats for curlers
Britain’s curlers showed their determination to come back from behind in both of their round-robin matches against Korea and the USA on day Three (Monday March 15).
In their opening game Britain played 2008 World silver medallists Korea. Korea seized the initiative from the start and took a 2-0 lead at the close of the first end, which they extended to 7-0 at the close of the fourth.
Despite the scoreline weighing substantially in favour of the opposition, the British team started to fight back, winning the fifth and sixth ends to bring the score to 2-7. With their confidence starting to build, Britain took the seventh end by two points but they had left themselves too much to do and the match ended at 4-7.
Skip Michael McCreadie blamed himself for the team’s slow start, saying: “I didn’t really turn up at all. However I need to park this performance and focus on the game we have this afternoon.
“Every game from now on is a cup final. We showed our potential last night and it’s still all to play for.”
Teammate Aileen Neilson added: “We struggled for the first four ends but we came out after half time and really dug deep.”
In the evening match, Britain started better and were unlucky to be 5-0 down after the first three ends.
The British team rallied, scoring two points in the fourth, but the USA struck back to put the score at 6-2 at the close of the fifth end. Britain pushed on again, scoring another two in the sixth to bring them within two points of their opposition. But the USA won the seventh end to put the score at 7-4.
The British team dug deep in the eighth end and Aileen Neilson delivered a cracking last stone to win three points for Britain, which levelled the score and sent the game into a final, deciding end.
In a thrilling final end GB had four stones in the house, but in a final twist, the USA had the hammer and their final stone won the match to secure a 8-7 victory.
A disappointed Michael McCreadie said: “Sport is cruel but we were part of a great spectacle. At this level of competition we have to make every game count.”
Britain play Germany later today (Tuesday March 16) and skip Michael McCreadie will be particularly keen on a victory to help him celebrate his birthday. Today also sees Britain’s skiers back in action in the Giant Slalom.
Results for Sunday March 14 (GB only):
Wheelchair Curling:
Great Britain (Michael McCreadie, Tom Killin, Angela Malone, Aileen Neilson, Jim Sellar) 4 – 7 Korea (Haksung Kim, Myungiin Kim, Yanghyun Cho, Misuk Kang, Kilwoo Park)
Great Britain (Michael McCreadie, Tom Killin, Angela Malone, Aileen Neilson, Jim Sellar) 7 – 8 USA (Augusto Perez, Patrick McDonald, Jim Pierce, Jacqui Kapinowski, Jimmy Joseph)
For full results see http://www.vancouver2010.com/paralympic-games/schedule---results/