Gangneung: In the Paralympic Winter Games at PyeongChang, Germany joined Canada and hosts Korea at the top of the rankings after defeating United States 6-4 on Sunday (11 March) morning’s third session of round-robin play.
Speaking about the win, Heike Melchior; lead, Germany (after 6-4 win over USA), said: “We are lucky about this game. It was a little bit difficult, but we won, so it’s okay. I think our draws were better. I’m very happy about that we started with two wins, it’s great.”
Earlier, there were only two games in this session. In the first game, Germany came back strongly in their game against US to record their second win of the competition by a score of 6-4. In the second game of the session, Switzerland beat Great Britain 7-4.
Starting the first match with positive mindset, United States blanked the first end of their game, then opened the scoring with three points in the second end. Germany, trailing after two ends, responded with a score of two points in the third end after two excellent draws by their skip, Christiane Putzich. Further, they went on with this gained momentum to steeal two points in the fourth end after American skip, Kirk Black, rolled out after a takeout with his final stone giving Germany a 4-3 lead at the break.
Coming off the break, Germany then stole single points in the fifth and sixth ends to extend their lead. US could only score a single point in the seventh end before being run out of stones in the eighth end. With this, Germany remain undefeated at the top of the rankings, while United States sit at the bottom searching for their first win.
In the second game, Switzerland defeated Great Britain 7-4 to claim their first win of the competition.
Speaking about the game, Claudia Huettenmoser; third, Switzerland (after 7-4 win over Great Britain), said: “We had to win this game, because yesterday we never started in the game. We had some time during the night to remember what’s wrong, what’s good, and I think we’ve found our way now. Today in the first two ends we were a little bit nervous, but it’s okay. Next we have Slovakia, and I think we’ll make the same preparations like this morning and will play this game this evening.”
Coming into this game after suffering a heavy defeat in their opening session, Switzerland bounced back with a win in a tight game. Great Britain opened the scoring with a single point in the first end and followed that with a steal of one point in the second end. Switzerland scored their first points of the competition in the third end when Swiss skip Felix Wagner got an open draw for three points.
Teams traded single points in the next two ends before Switzerland stole two points in the sixth end. Great Britain scored a single point in the seventh end to trail Switzerland by two points. In the eighth end, Britain were sitting two shot stones when Wagner played a hit and stay with his final stone to score one point and give Switzerland a 7-4 win.
Results:
United States 4-6 Germany;
Switzerland 7-4 Great Britain.
Standings after session three (win-loss):
Canada 2-0
Germany 2-0
Korea 2-0
China 1-0
Slovakia 1-0
Great Britain 1-1
Switzerland 1-1
Finland 0-1
Sweden 0-1
Norway 0-2
Neutral Paralympic Athletes 0-2
United States 0-2