SEMIS – both

Senior Men – two ends gone and Canada have taken a two and stolen a two. Ireland 0 Canada 4. Two back for Ireland in the 3rd. 2-4. steal of one in the 4th! 3-4. Ouch! Just lost a two in the fifth. 3-6 down. After losing another one, the brave boys shake at the end of the 6th. Still the bronze to play for.

(Gordon’s game reports have been stuck in internet no man’s land for a couple of days, but they have come though this morning so I will put up a special ‘Gordon’s reports’ post when this morning’s games are over).

Mixed Doubles – Slovakia also scored a two and stole a two. Ireland took one in the third. Slovakia 4 Ireland 1……4th end – lost another 2. 1-6 down. Two more lost in the 5th. 1-8 down. Neil and Ailson took one in the 6th but shook hands after losing a four in the seventh at 2-12 down. Still a game to go for them though.

Neil sent some pictures for us – on their way……Alison warming upTeams in Karlstadimage2 (3)ICA supermarketimage1 (3)

Ireland beat Hungary!

Ireland 10 Hungary 8

Holy Mary!

Neil and Alison, representing Ireland have got themselves  OLYMPIC points after beating the current mixed doubles world champions Hungary this afternoon.

They now play Slovakia at 8.30am tomorrow morning  – no idea if that’s BST or EST.

Neil explains the maths: ” We are currently ranked 9-12 so will earn between 1-4 Olympic points. We play Slovakia at 0830hrs then another game after that – winner vs winner and loser vs loser. If we lose then lose we get 1 point, lose then win = 2 points. Win then lose = 3 points and win then win = 4 points!”

Come on Ireland and the Fantastic Fyfes!

 

Ireland lose to Finland

Ireland 5 Finland 10

The loss of a five in the seventh end knocked back Ireland’s hopes of progressing up the rankings of the world mixed doubles this morning. The Fyfe duo now play Hungary, last year’s world champions, at 3pm to try and get into the top 12 MD teams and lay the golden egg this is Olympic points.

Well done to Neil and Alison for an excellent run so far. You are doing Ireland and the ICA proud.

The senior men are also in action at 3pm (our time) against Germany in a qualifier game for this evening’s quarter-finals. Come on Ireland!

Here are some of the latest photographs of our Irish teams taken by the WCF photographers….

Neil and Alison in tie-breaker against Italy

World Mixed Doubles Championship 2016, Karlstad, Sweden

World Mixed Doubles Championship 2016, Karlstad, Sweden

World Mixed Doubles Championship 2016, Karlstad, Sweden

World Mixed Doubles Championship 2016, Karlstad, Sweden

Ireland’s mixed doubles team, Neil and Alison Fyfe, will face Italy in a sudden death tie-breaker tonight.

The WCF  said: “After 26 sessions of round-robin play, the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2016 moves to a session of tiebreaker games and then qualification games. These will take place on Thursday (21 April) evening at 17.45 and 21.00 respectively (both are Central European Summer Time).

“There are three tiebreakers and these are to be played between Poland and Bulgaria in Group A, Italy and Ireland in Group D and Czech Republic and Scotland in Group F.

“At the conclusion of the round-robin Hungary, Finland, Norway, Canada, USA and Russia progress directly to the 1/8 finals having topped their respective groups. They are joined by the second placed teams – Slovakia, Korea, England, China, New Zealand and Estonia in tomorrow’s last 16 games.

“Once the tiebreakers are completed the two third placed teams in the groups with the best Draw Shot Challenge (DSC), will also progress to the 1/8 finals, while the remaining four, third placed teams will play in tonight’s qualification games, with the winners progressing to the finals.”

For all standings and live coverage visit, www.worldcurling.org/wmdcc2016
For details of the post round-robin and play-off games visit, www.worldcurling.org/wmdcc2016/post-round-robin

WMDCC – game 5

WMDCC2016-IRLvFRA-scoreWMDCC2016-Fyfes-SweepingWMDCC2016-TeamFranceIreland 6 France 7

Our dynamic duo, Neil and Alison Fyfe, had a tense, close game against France last night at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championships in Karlstad, Sweden.

Neil Fyfe commented –

“Very disappointing result yesterday for team Ireland. We really should have won our game against France – but lost 7-6.”

Their last round robin game is on Thursday 21st April at 2:30 pm against China.

Neil on MD game v Canada

World Mixed Doubles Championship 2016, Karlstad, Sweden

World Mixed Doubles Championship 2016, Karlstad, Sweden

Ireland’s mixed doubles player Neil Fyfe reports on the team’s second game at the world championships in Sweden:

He said: “Canada hit the one foot with both draw shots in the DSC so got the hammer. Alison drew to the front of the four with her first stone in the first end and then I managed to draw one behind it to freeze against the pre-positioned stone with his first. This proved too good for the Canadians to move for the rest of the end so Ireland stole a one.

World Mixed Doubles Championship 2016, Karlstad, Sweden

World Mixed Doubles Championship 2016, Karlstad, Sweden

“Canada stepped up a gear or two after this and took two two’s before Ireland managed to take a one in the fourth. Canada led 4-2 at the half time break.

Canada piled on more pressure by taking a three in the fifth so Alison and I decided to use our power play in the sixth end. A very rare miss by the Canadian female player Marliese Kasner gave us a chance for a three if they split a short stone at the front – but unfortunatey Alison was a tad wide and heavy and her shot slipped through the house. After managing to restrict the Canadians to a one in the seventh  the score was Canada 8 Ireland 3. The Canadians who were by far the better team ran the Irish out of stones as soon as they were allowed to hit in the eigth.

“Neither Alison or I had expected to win this game – but we were a bit disappointed the score was not closer.”