Snow-covered tundra and subzero temperatures met participants of the WCT Arctic Curling Cup, which takes place from 23 to 26 May in Dudinka on the ice arena "Taimyr".
10 teams take part in the tournament, 8 played on 1st day.
The first two matches of the day had similar scenario – equal score after 6 ends, Russian team takes lead after 7th end, the game is decided by the final throw of skip rivals of Russian teams.
Junior Russian team of Vlada Rumyantseva finished its match a little beat earlier. Last throw by the skip of their rivals from Finland Eszter Juhasz had a real chance to even the score, but she failed to put a rock in the house. Young Russians won their first match in the tournament – 5:4.
But in another match, the Russian team Anna Sidorova lost. The last throw in the match was taken by one of the most titled and experienced participants of the tournament Swiss Binia Feltscher, and she did everything close to the ideal, bringing victory to her team – 6:5. It is noteworthy that the Russians won 5 of the 8 ends, but it was not enough to win. For Anna Sidorova this is the first defeat at the Arctic Curling Cup – in 2017 she had five victories in five matches of the tournament.
Next match was Scotland (skip Eve Muirhead) vs Sweden (Isabella Wrana). The Swedes flew to Dudinka with transit through St. Petersburg and caught a cold somewhere on the road. This affected the game, the Scottish had the initiative from the beginning and in general confidently brought the match to victory with a score of 7:3. The Swedes have three more matches to fight for the promote from the group, but the main thing for them now is to have time to restore health.
On another track at this time met the team of the Krasnoyarsk Krai (skip Anna Venevtseva) and champions of Russia - the team of Alina Kovaleva. After the first 4 ends unexpectedly with the score 1:0 led the team of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. In the fifth end, Kovaleva's team won 4 rocks at once, and it seemed to change the course of the game. However, in the sixth end their opponents responded with 3 points and equalized (4:4). In the seventh end the score did not change. In the eighth end, the chances of winning were for both teams, but towards the end the team of the Krasnoyarsk Krai made a few mistakes and lost the end 0:4, and the match – 4:8. The St. Petersburg team of Alina Kovaleva won only two ends per match, but gained the first victory in the tournament.
Tomorrow the teams of Canada (skip Kerry Einarson) and the Republic of Korea will debut at the tournament. A total of 8 matches will be played at the tournament, as well as the opening ceremony, which will begin at 14:30 local time.
Arctic Curling Cup 2019
23 May
Group A
Russia (Vlada Rumyantseva) – Finland (Eszter Juhasz) – 5:4 (0:0, 0:1, 1:0, 2:0, 0:1, 0:1, 2:0, 0:1)
Switzerland (Binia Feltscher) – Russia (Anna Sidorova) – 6:5 (0:1, 0:1, 2:0, 0:1, 2:0, 0:1, 0:1, 2:0)
Group B
Russia (Alina Kovaleva) – Krasnoyarsk Krai (Anna Venevtseva) – 8:4 (0:1, 0:0, 0:0, 0:0, 4:0, 0:3, 0:0, 4:0)
Scotland (Eve Muirhead) – Sweden (Isabella Wrana) – 7:3 (2:0, 0:0, 1:0, 0:2, 1:0, 0:1, 1:0, 2:0)