Eve Muirhead fights back for World Curling Championship bronze

Eve Muirhead's Scottish women are bringing bronze medals home from China, following their 6-4 win over Sweden in yesterday's bronze play-off game of the CPT World Women's Curling Championship, here in Beijing.

Scotland coach Howard Glenn and players Kelly Schafer, Lauren Gray, Vicki Adams, Anna Sloan and Eve Muirhead. Picture: AFP/Getty.

It was Sweden who took the early advantage when, after blanking the first end, their skip Anna Hasselborg tapped back with her last stone to score two points in the second. The Scots blanked the third and then scored one in the fourth end when Muirhead drew her last stone inside three Swedish counters.

In the fifth end, Hasselborg played a hit and stay to add one more point for a 3-1 half-time lead. Then, in the sixth, Muirhead took out a Swedish stone with her own last, but had to settle for two points to level the score at 3-3 rather than score a possible three when her own stone slid on just too far after the hit.

The umpire’s measure was called into service in the seventh end and it denied Sweden a second shot in this end, the Swedes moving into a 4-3 lead.

After this, it was Scotland all the way. Muirhead drew for one in the eighth end to level the score again and, in the ninth, Muirhead produced a well-judged draw which Hasselborg could not better. The Swedish last stone was heavy and wide to give Scotland a steal of one and the lead in the game for the first time.

In the tenth end, after getting an early stone on the button, the Scots played guard after guard. Hasselborg’s attempted take-out with her last stone did not come off, giving Scotland another single steal and a 6-4 win.

Afterwards, Muirhead said: “That was a strong team performance. We really wanted that medal. It’s been a tough week with a lot of ups and a lot of downs, so to come away with a medal is really quite satisfying. That was a tough game – the ninth end was the first time we’ve been up on them all week and we played a fantastic last end. I’ve got world gold, silver and bronze now, so I’m delighted. It’s good to have a solid Worlds going into the Olympic Games.”

She added: “We deserved something because we fought hard all week. OK, it’s bronze and that’s not the colour you want. It takes a lot to come back and win bronze. It’s one of the toughest medals for a team to win. But we’d be too greedy if we thought we should have had more this week because I think the two best teams are in the final.”

Canada beat Russia by 8-3 in the final to complete a week-long undefeated campaign.