Skip Jennifer Jones of Canada in action.EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/Reuters
The members of the Canadian women’s curling team huddled in the far corner of the Ice Cube on Thursday for a long half-hour wait to learn their Olympic fate.
They had done their part by beating Denmark 10-4 but needed help from other teams to make the playoff cut.
Occasional glances at the game action on the large video screen were like regular body blows. Sweden finally delivered the knockout punch by defeating South Korea.
A 5-4 record left Jennifer Jones in a three-way tie but short of the four-team cut.
“It just wasn’t enough,” she said. “The sadness is more that it’s over. We don’t get to play anymore and that always makes me sad.”
An Olympic champion in 2014, Jones fought back after a slow 1-3 start at the Beijing Games.
She displayed flashes of top form at times but blowing a late lead against China on Wednesday night proved costly.
Britain and Japan joined Canada at 5-4 and all had 1-1 records against the other.
That left pre-game draw shot challenge numbers as the tiebreaker and Jones was last in the 10-team field.
Tiebreaker games are used at top Canadian curling events. But the World Curling Federation uses head-to-head records and last stone draw numbers.
“I’ve always enjoyed the tiebreaker games,” said Canada vice Kaitlyn Lawes. “I don’t think games should be decided based on one shot.
“Unfortunately we struggled with that this week. It’s just the way it is.”
There were 16 possible seeding scenarios entering the last round-robin draw. Only two of them involved draw shot challenge numbers.
After the Canadians and Danes shook hands after eight ends, Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni topped Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 8-4.
A few minutes later, Britain’s Eve Muirhead beat Russia’s Alina Kovaleva 9-4. That left Canada needing a South Korean comeback win over Sweden.
“Honestly I couldn’t watch,” Lawes said. “It’s difficult when it’s out of our control.”
EunJung Kim was down two with hammer in the 10th end but missed a double-takeout attempt to give Anna Hasselborg a steal and an 8-4 win.
The dejection was evident as Jones, Lawes, second Jocelyn Peterman, lead Dawn McEwen and alternate Lisa Weagle picked up their gear and left the ice area.
“The only thing with a tiebreaker, at least you get to play for it,” said coach Viktor Kjell. “But at the same time, we had nine chances to do a good draw shot here and we didn’t execute on that.”
The system has its detractors. But victories make it a non-issue and the wins simply didn’t come often enough for Canada this week.
The team turned in a middling performance and Jones shot just 74.4 per cent overall, ranking her eighth out of 10 skips.
Switzerland took the first seed at 8-1 and will meet Japan on Friday. Sweden (7-2) will play Britain in the other semi-final.
Britain was eighth out of 10 teams (35.27 cm) on pre-game throws – also called last stone draw – while Japan was ninth (36.00).
Canada (45.44) was well back in 10th place.
National team manager Elaine Dagg-Jackson said the rink had posted strong DSC numbers all season and regularly practised the shots in a pre-Games training camp.
“When we came out here, the rocks just didn’t go to the right spot,” she said. “Certainly there’ll be a debrief about that.
“But it was mysterious because it was something they felt very confident about coming in here.”
During the draw shot challenge, each team throws two stones to the button.
The rock’s distance from the pin is measured and the team with the best results opens with hammer.
For tiebreaker purposes, each team’s numbers from all nine round-robin games are averaged with the two worst throws taken away.
“We don’t want our Olympic dream to be dashed because of a draw shot,” said Japanese coach J.D. Lind. “So as much as I don’t think it’s the best, we all know that it could eliminate you.”
The Canadian women haven’t reached the Olympic podium since Jones ran the table eight years ago in Sochi, Russia.
“I’m feeling proud yet incredibly sad,” Jones said.
Canada’s mixed doubles team of Rachel Homan and John Morris also missed the playoffs. The men’s team skipped by Brad Gushue was scheduled to play Sweden’s Niklas Edin on Thursday night.
Earlier in the day, Gushue closed out his round-robin schedule with a 5-2 loss to Britain’s Bruce Mouat.
Both teams had already qualified for the playoffs. Mouat was to meet defending champion John Shuster of the United States in the other semi-final.
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TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
