BEIJING – Jon Thurston perfectly executed a difficult raise take-out to remove the opponent’s counter biting the one-foot to give Canada a dramatic 5-4 victory over previously undefeated Sweden on Monday at the 2021 World Wheelchair Curling Championships.
Canada had blanked the seventh end to carry the hammer into the last end. In the eighth end, both teams played precisely leaving Thurston, shooting fourth for Canada, to deliver the heroics.
“We love playing against Sweden,’’ said Canadian skip Mark Ideson, who shoots lead. ‘’They are a great team to play against. They always give us a great game. We are happy to come away with the ‘W’ and kind of build off the momentum that we got on day two and hope to carry that forward.”
Later on Monday however the Canadians lost 7-4 to Scotland, who moved into a three-way tie for first place with China and the world champion Russian Curling Federation (RCF), all at 4-1. Canada, Latvia and Sweden all follow at 3-2. The top six teams after the round-robin reach the playoff round.
Round-robin play continues Tuesday for Canada with games against RCF, in a rematch of the 2020 final, and South Korea.
For more information about the 2021 World Wheelchair Curling Championships, including scores, schedules and team lineups, visit Worldcurling.org.
