Canada out-curls ex-champ
Green Holland rink defeats former worlds winner China
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/03/2011 (5498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
ESBJERG, Denmark — Canadian skip Amber Holland made sure her world women’s curling championship debut was a winning one.
Holland guided her Saskatchewan rink to an 8-6 victory over former world champion Bingyu Wang of China on Saturday at the Granly Hockey Arena.
“It’s nice to come out and get adjusted to the ice and to have a win is great,” Holland said. “We’re just trying to get a feel for the ice, it changed a little bit throughout the game, but everything’s going great.”
In other early games, Switzerland defeated the United States 5-3, the Czech Republic edged Scotland 6-5 and Russia beat Korea 9-5.
Holland took control of a tight game by scoring four in the sixth end to take a 6-3 advantage.
The Canadians caught a break in the seventh when China had to settle for two instead of three after its rock rolled just a tad too far. But Holland came up big in the eighth with a solid tap-back to the button with China lying three to go ahead 7-5.
After the Chinese scored one in the ninth to cut Canada’s lead to 7-6, Holland countered with one in the 10th to cement the victory.
Holland figures tight games will be the norm for Canada this week.
“Obviously China is a great team and there are a lot of great teams here — Olympic champions, too — so I’m not going to say it’ll get any easier this week,” she said.
Holland, third Kim Schneider, third Tammy Schneider and lead Heather Kalenchuk are playing at the world championship for the first time. They qualified for the event by beating the Jennifer Jones team from Winnipeg that had won the national title for three consecutive years.
Holland believes her team is well-prepared heading into the event.
“We came early, arrived Tuesday,” she said. “We’ve had a few days to get to know the place and get acclimated so it’s good.”
Canada will play twice today, facing Russia and Denmark.
Holland’s team was a dark horse at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Charlottetown and they are again here because of their lack of international experience. However, Canada is so deep in competitive curling teams whoever represents the country is expected to contend for gold.
The 12-country field includes defending world champion Andrea Schoepp of Germany, who won the title last year in Swift Current, Sask. Two-time Olympic champion Anette Norberg of Sweden has a new, young team behind her and Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott has twice won a silver medal at the Olympics.
— The Canadian Press
