World regains momentum in Singles

Team World regained any momentum it may have lost in the morning’s Skins games by taking 22 of 32 available points in this afternoon’s Singles competition to increase its lead to 119-81 over North America at the sixth Continental Cup, presented by Monsanto.

World regains momentum

The World won two of the three men’s games, with victories by China’s Fengchun Wang, 20-15 over Canada’s Kevin Koe and by Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud, 18-17 over Craig Brown of the USA.   In the other game, Canada’s Kevin Martin defeated Scotland’s David Murdoch, 19-16. In women’s, the World and North America split the points, each winning one game and tying the other.  China’s Bingyu Wang defeated Canada’s Jennifer Jones, 18-16, while Canada’s Stefanie Lawton beat Sweden’s Anette Norberg, 15-12.   Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott and USA’s Debbie McCormick tied at 11. Each Singles match was worth four points (two for a tie) with an eight-point bonus awarded to the side with the highest aggregate total from all six games.    The World came out on top in the aggregate, 95-93, to earn the eight-point bonus. The Singles event is really a team competition, since each member must throw at least one of the required six shots…. Run Through, Draw the Button, Draw the Port, Raise, Hit and Roll and Double Takeout, with points awarded for each shot, depending on its success. Saturday night at 7:30 pm MT at the EnCana Arena in the Edgeworth Centre, the 30-point Men’s (David Murdoch vs Kevin Koe), Women’s (Mirjam Ott vs Stefanie Lawton) and Mixed (teams skipped by Thomas Ulsrud and Kevin Martin) Skins games take place. The Continental Cup, the first event in curling’s Season of Champions, involves Team games (72 points), Mixed Doubles (36 points), Singles (32 points) and Skins (Men’s, Women’s and Mixed, worth a total of 260 points).   The first side to score 201 points is declared the winner.  Each member of the winning team will receive $2,000 while each losing team member gets $1,400. North America holds a 3-2 edge in Cup wins, since the unique four-day competition began in 2002 in Regina.   North America won the inaugural Cup, then took renewals in Medicine Hat in 2004 and 2007.   The World (formerly Team Europe) won in 2003 in Thunder Bay and 2006 in Chilliwack. TSN and TSN2 are providing full live national coverage of the competition.