Beijing, February 6 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Winter Olympic Curling Mixed Doubles Round Robin tournament came to an end on February 6, and in a "master-apprentice battle" with ups and downs, the "apprentice" Australian duo Jill/Hewitt unexpectedly beat "Master" Canadian Morris and his partner Hohmann 10:8.
Italy continued its "dark horse" journey, defeating China and Sweden on the same day, extending the winning streak to eight games, not only sitting on the first place in the round robin tournament, but also working with the United Kingdom and Norway to advance to the semi-finals.
After the end of the day's competition, the round robin qualifying situation was basically clear. In addition to Italy, Great Britain and Norway, another ticket to the Final Four will be generated between Canada and Sweden. The Czech Republic, Switzerland, the United States, China and Australia have all lost their chances to advance to the final four.
The Australian team had previously trained in Canada to prepare for the Olympic qualification tournament, and Morris was their coach at the time, and Morris partnered with Homan in the Mixed Doubles at the Winter Olympics. Prior to this battle, Australia had won one and lost seven times, and had no chance to advance to the final four.
In the match between the two teams on the evening of the 6th, after the first two sets, the "apprentice" had a 5:0 lead, and Morris/Hohmann had to use the border area offensive right in advance in the third set, but was "stolen" a point, and Morris took off his coat to return to the game. Helplessly, the fourth set was "stolen" by a point, and the first half ended after falling behind 0:7.
In the fifth inning, Canada finally scored four points from the backhand. Australia scored another point in the sixth inning. In the seventh inning, Canada "stole" three runs to chase the score to 7:8. In the eighth inning, the Australian team backhand, Morris made a mistake on the first shot, and the last shot Gill chose to let Canada get a point, and the two teams drew 8:8 to enter the overtime game. In the overtime game, the Australian team had two scoring pots, and the Canadian team had no chance of winning and had to concede defeat to end the game.
The 6th was a rollercoaster day for the Australian team. They had been forced to end their Winter Olympics trip because Gill tested positive for COVID-19, but were later told that the medical panel did not consider Jill to be contagious and that they could continue to compete.
The Australian team that returned to the field was like a miracle help, after seven games, they first defeated the PyeongChang Winter Olympic runner-up Swiss team at 9:6 p.m., and then pulled down the PyeongChang Winter Olympic champion Canada team in the evening.
Australian coach Mana Sandions said after the game: "We were lucky to be in today's game, we just wanted to enjoy the moment and the afternoon victory made our minds more relaxed. Against Canada, we know each other very well and it was challenging and today we just played a little better. ”
Italy defeated China and Sweden 8:4 and 12:8 respectively, and advanced to lock in the final four places in advance. The United States lost 8:10, 5:6 to czechoslovakia and Switzerland, while Norway defeated Sweden and England by the same score (6:2) in the afternoon and evening. In other matches, Britain narrowly beat China 6:5 and Canada beat the Czech Republic 7:5.
On the morning of the 7th, the final round of the curling mixed doubles round robin will be held, and the semi-final competition will begin in the evening. (End)