Photos from 2010 Worlds Qualifying - Lohja, Finland

The logistics of gathering information about an event often means that photos arrive too late to include in written reports. Below are some team photos and others from the 2010 Worlds Qualifying in Lohja, Finland. All but one of the team photos were taken by Katja Kiiskinen of the Finnish Curling Association, who was, throughout the event always helpful and a valuable source of information.

Top qualifiers China
Haitao Wang, Wei Liu, Guangqin Xu, Jun He

Second qualifiers Russia
(?), Svetlana Pakhomova, (?), Andrey Smirnov, Marat Romanov

3rd place Italy
Edigio Marchese, Gabriele Dallapiccola, Emanuele Spelorzi, Angela Menardi

4th place Japan
Katsuo Ichikawa, Yogi Nakajima, Aki Ogawa, Ayakp Saitoh

Switzerland
Manfred Bolliger, Claudia Huettenmoser, Hieronymus Liechtenhan, Daniel Meyer

Slovakia
Radoslav Duris, Dusan Pitonak, Alena Kánová, Monika Kunkelová

Denmark
Rosita Jensen, Kenneth Orbaek, Jørn Kristensen with Coach Per Christensen

Finland
Vesa Hellman, Tuomo Aarnikka, Markku Karjalainen, Sari Karjalainen

Latvia
Ojars Briedis, Vita Miezite, Ilmars Nicmanis, Aleksandrs Dimbovkis,
Coach Artis Zentelis (photo - Linda Kirton)

France (unfortunately prevented from competing)
Andre Jouvent, Herve Bouchard, Christophe Amann, Paulette Divine

[

[photo - Linda Kirton]

Ice-maker Jorgen Larsen, though a Dane, nevertheless dared to arrive at the post tournament banquet wearing his Norwegian pants.

 [photo - Linda Kirton]

And because Finland is only just down the road, Santa paid an early visit to WCF President Kate Caithness and Keith Wendorf, WCF Director of Competitions.

China and Russia qualify for 2011 Worlds

China and Russia qualified for the 2011 World Championships to be held next February in Prague, by emerging from two rounds of Page playoff games today.

Team China 3rd - Wei Liu
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

China had topped the table after round robin play, and faced Italy, who also had a 7-1 record, in the 1v2 game. It was quickly decided. Italy stole 1 in the first and then gave up a 7 in the 2nd, and could never recover, losing 10-4.

CHN - China	*	0	7	0	1	1	0	1	x	10
ITA - Italy		1	0	1	0	0	2	0	x	4

China therefore qualified, while Japan waited to play the winner of the 2v3 game for the second qualifying place.

Russia, who had lost their chance to play in the 1v2 game yesterday when they were beaten by Japan, faced japan again in the 3v4. This time they asserted themselves early, stealing a single in the 3rd and a big 4 in the fourth to lead 6-1 at the break. Though Japan came back with a 4 of their own, they were always struggling to catch up though Russia needed their skip's last rock draw for a single point with hammer, to seal the 9-6 win.

RUS - Russia	*	0	1	1	4	0	2	0	1	-	9
JPN - Japan		1	0	0	0	1	0	4	0	-	6

That set up a Russia. Italy match for the second qualifying place. They had met in the first round robin draw, a game that produced the highest points total of the tournament when Italy took two in the final end to win 11-10.

Italy's Edigio Marchese - who stepped up to replace absent skip Andrea Tabanelli
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

Today's game was much tighter. Russia started with hammer, took a single, then stole a point and added to their lead by scoring 2 for a 4-1 lead at the break. Italy scored the next three points, including steals of one in the 7th and 8th to force an extra, and were in with a chance with their last stone. Unfortunately for Italy, substitute skip Edigio Marchese's final rock was heavy, and Russia took two for a 6-4 win.

RUS - Russia	*	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	-	6
ITA - Italy		0	0	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	-	4

Team Russia

 [Photo: Linda Kirton]

Team Italy
Emanuale Spelorzi, Egidio Marchese, Gabriele Dallapiccola, Angela Menardi

 [Photo: Linda Kirton]

China and Russia join hosts Czech Republic, Canada, Sweden, Germany, USA, Scotland, Norway, and Korea at the 2011 World Wheelchair Curling Championships in Prague, February 21-March 3.

The 2011 Worlds will be the first opportunity for countries to register points towards qualification for the 2014 Paralympics in Russia. The top nine point scorers over the next three World Championships, will join hosts Russia in Sochi, 2014. This makes it additionally heartbreaking for Italy today, losing such a tight game to a country that does not need to qualify in 2014. Of course Russia, relative newcomers to the sport, will need all the top level competition it can gain if they hope to do well on home ice.

France, who attended the Qualifying tournament but were not allowed to compete because of a dispute between the French Curling Association and their governing body the French Federation of Ice Sports, nevertheless were able to play their games as friendlies.

Any country affiliated to the World Curling Federation was eligible to play in this Qualifying Tournament, so France did not take a place that would otherwise have gone to another country.

Worlds Qualifying - Day 5 - China top the table

Team China skip Haito Wang
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

China faced unbeaten Italy in the morning draw of the last day of round robin play at the 2010 Worlds Qualifying in Kohja, Finland, with the winner assured of a place in the Page-playoff top two.

China had their perfect record broken by great double take-out that earned Russia a 5-4 win yesterday. Today Italy had no answer to a relentless series of single point steals, China winning 7-1.

Japan's 3rd Yoji Nakajima and 2nd Aki Ogawa
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

In the other morning match with top spot implications, Russia began promisingly against Japan, stealing one in the first end and leading 8-6 after 6 ends. Japan outlasted them, however, taking 3 to go ahead, and sealing the 10-8 win with a final end steal. That meant Russia, who had a final round bye, would need help to claim a top spot.

Switzerland, who had to win both games to have a realistic hope of a tie-break entry to the playoffs, began the day with an 11-3 win over Latvia.

Denmark played Finland, stole 3 in the 1st and 2 in the 5th to go out to a 6-3 lead. The host side tied the game with a steal in the 7th, but Denmark steadied themselves to post their second win, taking 3 in the final end to win 9-6.

In the afternoon draw, China beat winless Latvia 12-1 to ensure they would finish top of the table. Russia, and Italy with just one loss, were assured playoff places, which left Japan and Switzerland fighting for the remaining playoff spot.

If Japan beat Finland they would claim it. if they lost and Switzerland beat Italy, Japan and Switzerland would play each other in a tie-break.

Japan started their match by giving up 4 in the 1st. They levelled the score at the break, but Finland, who'd had a disappointing tournament as far as results went, salvaged some pride by taking the last 6 points in a 10-4 win.

 Swiss 3rd Claudia Hüttenmoser
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

Switzerland, with everything to play for, faced Italy and though tied 2-2 at the break, faded to a 7-3 loss. “We feel a little bit sad because the game against Italy was our last chance,” said Swiss vice-skip Claudia Hüttenmoser. “They played better than us and that’s life."

This means the top two teams, China and Italy, will play for the first of two qualifying places. The loser of that match will then play the winner of Japan/Russia, for the second qualifying spot.

"But who wins the tournament? They play all week, and there isn't a final final?" someone asked. No, and that's why it's called a qualifying tournament and not a bonspiel.

Final table after 9 draws

China          7 - 1
Italy           7 - 1
Japan          5 - 3
Russia         6 - 2
Switzerland  4 - 4
Slovakia      3 - 5
Denmark     2 - 6
Finland       2 - 6
Latvia         0 - 8

Tommorrow noon local time

Game 1 - 1 vs 2 - China vs  Italy -  winner qualifies for 2011 Worlds
Game 2 - 3 vs 4 - Russia vs Japan

Tomorrow 4.30 local time

Loser Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2  -  winner qualifies for 2011 Worlds

Line scores from the games are available HERE. Click on date.

Hopefully at least one of the first round of playoff games will be on Sheet B so we can watch a webcast.

Worlds Qualifying - Day 4 - Italy still perfect after beating China

Team Italy
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

The top of the table teams continued to win in the morning draw at the Worlds Qualifying tournament in Lohja, Finland, but at the end of the day, only Italy (6-0) remained unbeaten. They have adjusted to the loss of their skip, Andreas Marchese, who had to return home before play began, and as the week has progressed, they have looked more and more comfortable.

Italy's Emanuale Spelorzi, braced by Gabriel Dallapiccola, watched by lead Angela Menardi
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

Team Russia
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

Russia arrived 10 days early and their pre-tournament training seems to have paid off. They saw off winless Latvia 8-3 in the morning. Denmark fought to the end of their 7-10 loss against Japan, but a steal of two in the 8th was not nearly enough to overcome Japan's steal of 5 in the 2nd.

 Japan's  Ayako Saito and Aki Ogawa. Japan is 1 of 4 teams with 2 females
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

China posted a 4 and a 5 on their way to a 12-5 win against probably the most experienced skip on the ice, Switzerland's Manfred Bollinger.

Swiss skip Manfred Bollinger bracing his lead during warm-ups
[Photo: Linda Kirton]

Slovakia is appearing for just the second time at a world level event.  In 2008 they lost all their games, but this morning they posted their second win, 8-7 after stealing a point in the last end against hosts Finland.

The marquee match-up in the afternoon draw was Russia with one loss against previously unbeaten China. China had the hammer and took one in the first and added a stolen single in the second. Russia pulled level with 2 in the 3rd  fell behind by one in the 4th and pulled ahead with 2 in the fifth.

The 6th end saw a rare blank, but China could only claim a single point to level the scores after 7. Russia won the match, and second place in the standings, with a double takeout to win 5-4 to the cheers of a large group of Russian spectators.

Italy, who had a bye in the morning, buried Finland 11-1 in 7. Japan kept their playoff hopes alive by beating Slovakia 7-5, though the Slovaks gave them a scare by stealing the first two ends.

Denmark finally posted a win, 9-6, outlasting Latvia by stealing 3 in an extra end.

Italy and Russia are guaranteed a playoff spot and China could still take first place. Japan and Switzerland are also still in contention for the playoffs.

On current form, Japan and China both look to win at least one game tomorrow, which will force Switzerland to win both and beat Italy in the final draw to have a chance of playing on Friday.

Standings after Draw 7

Italy           6 - 0
Russia        6 - 1

China         5 - 1
Japan         4 - 2

Switzerland 3 - 3
Slovakia      2 - 5
Denmark     1 - 5

Finland       1 - 5
Latvia         0 - 6
.

Some random notes: teams are drawing to the button for hammer, and all but Denmark have missed the rings, thus reverting to a toss. Today Latvia came within 3.2 cm, and Finland threw within 2 cm of the pin.

It has been snowing and outside temperatures are around freezing. Apparently it's not a pleasant walk from the arena to the dining hall.

Finnish lead Sari Karjalainen dressed for the cold
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

No one is complaining about the ice, which has maintained decent speed and curl.

 

Chief time-keeper Daryl Kirton (Canada) with a volunteer.
[photo Linda Kirton]

There haven't been any time clock penalties, though Russia has had time expire before their final rock has stopped, and Switzerland has run the clock down to less than 10 seconds. The clock operators and on-ice player assistants are from the facility's teaching program. They are training to be Sports Leaders, are young, enthusiastic, very cooperative and quick learners.

Thursday's games begin 9am local time. A live webcast from Sheet B can be seen HERE

Line scores from the games are available HERE. Click on date.

Worlds Qualifying - Day 3 - Italy and China unbeaten

China skip Haitao Wang
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

Experience is beginning to tell at the midway point of Worlds Qualifying in Lohja, Finland. Italy (5-0) "seem invincible" according to one experienced observer, and stand in skip Edigio Marchese is doing an excellent job guiding the team. This morning's 6-4 win over Japan featured a steal of 2 in the final end of what had been a very tight contest.

Several teams have been running their time clocks dangerously close to zero. Japan had only 6 minutes left for their final end against Italy, and even though skip Katsuo had 3 minuets to deliver his final stones, he did not look comfortable. He had to make full 8 foot with his last rock to beat Italy, but his stone overcurled, or perhaps he was tight to the broom.

Italy faced an easier challenge against winless Latvia (0-4) in the afternoon, winning 9-3 after leading 7-0 at the break.

Japan (2-2) recovered from their morning loss to take an important win over Switzerland (3-2), a team that will challenge them for a playoff place. Again steals in ends 3 and 4 were the difference in a 6-3 win.

Switzerland, with hammer, had earlier spotted Slovakia (1-4) to a 3-0 start, but ended comfortable winners 9-3.

Unbeaten China (4-0) had a comfortable 9-2 win over hosts Finland in the morning draw, but were almost shocked by Slovakia in the afternoon, giving up a 5 in the 4th and falling behind 8-2. They then regrouped, taking 2 with hammer in the 6th, and stealing 3 in the 7th to pull within one. Another steal of 3 in the eighth gave them a 10-8 win.

Slovakian skip Radoslav Duriš had a chance with his first stone of the final end, to throw a guard which would have made it very difficult for China to remove it to score. Unluckily for Slovakia, the attempted guard was hogged. Slovakia still had a chance with their final stone - an open hit, or draw to China's shot stone would have kept their lead intact, but Radoslav was a little inside on his release, his stone over-curled, and China completed a dramatic come back.

Slovakia is one of three teams on 4 losses, which I'm sure Vic Rauter would agree in an eight game tournament will be too many to contend.

Finland (1-3) had beaten Russia three times in three attempts in pre-tournament friendly matches, so were especially disappointed to lose 10-7 to their neighbours. Finland took 4 in the 7th to go ahead 7-6, but then gave up 4 for the loss.

The morning's excellent quality webcast (with commentary) saw Russia play Denmark. The Danes ("we're red. we're white. we're dynamite") have an experienced coach (Per Christensen, who coached Norway at the Vancouver Paralympics) yet they are the only team using what must surely by now be the discredited near t-line delivery zone Great Britain/Scotland adopted.

The additional distance meant their lead found it hard to reach the rings, the front even with hammer became cluttered, and Denmark looked every bit an 0-4 team. In what became an all too typical situation, in the 2nd end Danish skip Kenneth Ørbaek had few good options, facing 4 with his last rock. He could have tried a runback of his own stone near the house and centre line, which had he hit it would have at least cut down on the damage. He chose a wide come-around that went through the house.

Webcast times don't work very well for those of us in the Pacific time zone, but anyone watching who cares to send in a report is very welcome.

It had snowed and froze before Day 2 and despite conscientious wheel cleaning efforts, the occasional rock would hit a piece of the gravel from the paths outside; just one of the worries for ice-makers Jorgen Larsen and local assistant Mika Ollikainen.

Standings after Draw 5

Italy           5 - 0
China         4 - 0
Russia        4 - 1
Switzerland 3 - 2
Japan         2 - 2
Finland       1 - 3
Slovakia      1 - 4
Denmark     0 - 4
Latvia         0 - 4

Line scores from the games are available HERE. Click on date.

A live webcast from Sheet B can be seen HERE

Worlds Qualifying - Day 2

Team Italy's Edigio Marchese has led his team to a 3-0 start
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

Hosts Finland, who had a bye in the opening draw when France were unable to compete, faced Switzerland in Draw 2 of Worlds Qualifying. They gave up a steal of 2 in the 1st then exchanged 2's for Swiss 3's, losing 9-6.

Russia opened with 4 stolen points against Slovakia, then saw their lead disappear into a two point deficit as Slovakia stole singles in four consecutive ends. Russia took 2 in the 8th and stole a 7-6 win with a single in an extra end.

Denmark posted their second loss despite steals in the first 3 ends against Italy, who recovered from 5-3 down after 6, by stealing a 6-5 win.

Japan had a comfortable 10-3 win over Latvia and China had a bye.

In the afternoon session hosts Finland, despite spotting Latvia to a 5 point lead, all on steals, stole the last four ends to win 7-5. Latvia looked as though they would pull out a win down one in the 8th, with a spectacular double raise. But Finnish skip Tuomo Aarnikka managed a freeze with his final stone and Aleksandrs Dimbovkis' last rock draw went two centimeters too far to force an extra end.

Italy continued their perfect start with a win over Slovakia, 8-5. Behind by three after two ends, they drew level on two impressive last stones by stand-in skip Edigio Marchese in the 3rd, and earned their win without the hammer.

Team Russia - Andrey Smirnov
[Photo: Finnish Curling Association/Katja Kiiskinen]

Russia found themselves down one without hammer after 7 ends against favoured Switzerland, but with a steal of one in the 8th and another in the extra, posted a 9-8 win.

China had a comfortable 10-2 win over Denmark. Japan, scheduled to play France, had a bye. The French team, though disappointed not to be playing, have remained in Lohja and are enjoying the experience of watching international level wheelchair curling.

Denmark's Jorgen Larsen is the ice-maker, and ice on the second day, with the arena slightly less cold, was a little quicker and still with plenty of curl. Teams appear happy with the ice conditions.

Table after 3 draws

Italy           3 - 0
China         2 - 0
Russia        2 - 1
Switzerland 2 - 1
Finland       1 - 1
Japan         1 - 1
Slovakia      1 - 2
Denmark     0 - 3
Latvia         0 - 3

Full results can be found HERE. Click on the date to see line scores.

Worlds Qualifying underway in Finland - France withdraws

Ten teams hoped to compete in the Worlds Qualifying tournament in Lohja, Finland, for the final two places at the 2011 Worlds in Prague next February. However, a surprise ruling by the French Federation for Ice Sports (FFSG) meant that France has withdrawn, and their game against hosts Finland was declared void.

France were apparently caught  in a legal dispute between the French Curling Association and the FFSG and were unable to produce the required "permission to compete" form prior to the tournament starting, and therefore had to withdraw.

Those allowed to play include three teams (Japan, Italy and Switzerland) who competed at Vancouver Paralympics, plus China who were at the last Worlds, Vancouver 2009.

Italy lost their experienced skip, Andrea Tabanelli, who had to return to Italy today. Edigio Marchese moved up to skip and alternate Emanuale Spelorzi played 2nd. Despite the rearrangement, Italy took 2 in the final end to overcome Russia in a slugfest that saw 3's scored in 6 of the 8 ends. Marat Romanov is skipping and throwing 3rd stones for Russia in a change from the website listing.

Japan had won a warm-up tournament at Wetzikon (SUI) but started cold against China who raced out to a 5-1 lead after 3, with steals of two in the 2nd and the 3rd ends. Japan came back wth three in the 4th, but never quite caught up; their two in the final end leaving them on the short end of a 7-6 result. Japan's skip at the Paralympics, Yoji Nakajima, had been registered as alternate, but played 3rd.

Denmark attempted to steal their way back into the match against Switzerland but failed to overcome the  5 points stolen by the Swiss, losing 9-6. The Danes were the only team throwing from the rings rather than the hogline, as Scotland throw under Coach Pendreigh. Denmark's coach is Per Christensen who was in charge of Team Norway last season.

Slovakia registered their first World level win, breaking Latvia's promising start by taking 5 in the fifth and then stealing their way home to an 11-3 victory.

Ice conditions for the only draw of the day were consistent and swingy, but heavy. Hog to hog draw times were 12.5 seconds, and the ice makers hope to quicken the ice for subsequent draws. Heavy ice meant that most of the front end play across the sheets was in front of the house.

The better teams at the Paralympics were calling for front stones into the rings, so we'll see whether quicker ice or changed tactics make a difference as the week continues.

Line scores from the games are available HERE.

A live webcast from Sheet B can be seen HERE

Who's going to qualify in Lohja, Finland?

Several people have added their honed judgements/wild guesses to the comments at the bottom of the World Wheelchair Qualifying Tournament post.

Add yours, and if you include your name you can bask in glory when you're proven right. 

Here's links to the last Qualifying tournament, Prague 2008, the 2009 Worlds, and the 2010 Paralympics.

2008 was the year Germany qualified and went on to win a bronze medal at the 2009 Worlds after leading the round robin all week.

It was also the year China emerged on the world stage. They performed creditably at the 2009 Worlds, tying for 5th in the round robin, and 8th post-tie break. That's normally good enough to return at the following championship, but with 2011 host Czech Republic taking a slot, the bottom three teams rather than the bottom two at the 2009 Worlds had to re-qualify.

Worlds Qualifying begins Nov. 7 - top two to Prague in 2011

Hosts Team Finland
photo - Kisakallio

The World Wheelchair Curling Qualifying Tournament begins Sunday November 7th at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland. Ten teams will compete: China, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia and Switzerland.

They will play a full round robin, the top four teams entering a Page playoff on Friday November 12. The top two finishers join the top eight from the 2009 World Championships, and will compete in at the Worlds in Prague, February 21-March 3, 2011 for Sochi Paralympics qualifying points.

Italy and Japan both played at the Vancouver Paralympics, on the basis of prior World Championship performances. Andrea Tabanelli's Italy (5-5) placed 5th in Vancouver but though they also tied for 5th at the 2009 Worlds, they lost out after a series of multiple tie-break games, falling to 9th and thus forced to requalify. They bring their Vancouver team to Finland.

Japan were the hard luck team of the 2008 Worlds, when they were relegated by a couple of centimetres on a pre-event draw to the button tie-breaker. The unfairness of their fate led to a tie-break rule change. This year's Qualifying will be Japan's second attempt to regain their status as a World Championship team.

Japan's skip in Vancouver, Yogi Nakajima is listed as alternate for Finland, with his 3rd Katsuo Ichikawa, moving up to skip. Takashi Hidai, at 75 the oldest Paralympian, did not make the trip. Japan is the only team slated to start two women, copying Canada's all-female front end.

Switzerland's very experienced skip, Manfred Bollinger, will have a new 2nd, Hieronymus Liechtenham. Daniel Meyer replaces Anton Kehrli at lead. Four teams list two female members (SLO, RUS, JAP, FIN). Denmark and France travel with just four person teams.

China bring in a new female at 2nd, Guanqin Xu, the only change from the team that befuddled Canada during round robin play at the 2009 Worlds.

Denmark welcome back Per Christensen as coach. Per was in charge of Norway at the Vancouver Paralympics, but moved back to his home team when coach Thoralf Hognestad returned to his old job.

Russia arrived in Lohja at the end of October and have been practicing with their neighbour and host Finland. They are hoping to regain World Championship status after being relegated with Japan at the 2008 Worlds, though coach Vladimir Shevchenko told the WCF media he "believes that the level in this year's tournament will be extremely high and making it to the top two will be very challenging."

Finland began wheelchair curling in 2007 and have never made it to a Worlds, though they did have an upset win over Team Canada in Prague last November.

France, Latvia and Slovakia round out the field.

Tournament organizers plan live webcast coverage of games on Sheet B. The first game on Sheet B is China vs. Japan, starting 4pm local time on Sunday November 7.

The draw and game schedule can be found HERE and other event information can be found HERE.

Team Finland's photo was taken on the railway square in the center of Helsinki, where there is outdoor ice every winter for skating, with one sheet of curling ice at the side.

You can see results from all major championships from 2006 by using the links on the events page at wheelchaircurling.com