Scots curlers back on track with two wins in Beijing

Two solid wins in yesterday's round-robin play put Scotland's Eve Muirhead and her team back on track for the weekend medal play-offs of the CPT World Women's Curling Championship in Beijing.

Scotland's Anna Sloan shouts instructions during the win over Switzerland at the World Curling Championship in Beijing. Picture: Ng Han Guan/AP

In the morning session, the Scots beat hosts China 8-6 and then came back on to the ice to beat Switzerland by 7-4 and move into a tie for the crucial fourth play-off slot.

Against China, the Scots made an early breakthrough when skip Muirhead drew her final stone of the third end into the house to score three points for a 3-2 lead. The Scots led 7-6 as they went into the tenth end and the game came down to a draw to the eighth-foot ring for Muirhead, which she confidently made.

Against Switzerland, both skip Muirhead and third player Anna Sloan produced outstanding scoring statistics as they carved out a 7-4 win.

Scotland's Eve Muirhead prepares to release a stone during the win over Switzerland at the World Curling Championship in Beijing. Picture: Ng Han Guan/AP

That came despite a complete miss on a take-out attempt by Muirhead in the third end that gave up a steal of one.

After that, however, the Scots recovered well and a Muirhead draw for one shot in the fourth end levelled the score.

In the fifth end, Switzerland’s skip Alina Paetz had to come around a lot of cover to beat another good Muirhead draw and score one for a 3-2 Swiss lead at half-time.

Another draw by Muirhead for one in the sixth levelled the score again, at 3-3, and then, after Switzerland had blanked the seventh end, a good shot by Muirhead to lie three forced Paetz to draw for one. In the ninth end, two good draws by Muirhead gave the Scots three shots from the end and a 6-4 lead. The Scots finished the game with a steal of one and a final score of 7-4.

Scotland's Eve Muirhead prepares to release a stone during the win over Switzerland at the World Curling Championship in Beijing. Picture: Ng Han Guan/AP

Muirhead said: “We knew what we had to do today, after a not good day at the office yesterday and that was to get two wins to keep us in the competition. We were playing against two tough teams – China the home nation, and Switzerland, who are playing really well – so we’re really pleased. We couldn’t really have asked for much more.

“Hopefully now we have a bit of momentum going. As usual, we don’t like doing it the easy way. We need to continue that play into tomorrow now.”

The Scots conclude their round-robin play against 
Germany and the Czech Republic today, with both of those teams also fighting for play-off slots.