Canada loses to Russia at Capital One World Women’s

Canada, skipped by Saskatchewan’s Amber Holland, didn’t stay undefeated for very long at the 2011 Capital One World Women’s Curling Championship, taking place in Esbjerg, Denmark. After winning its debut yesterday, 8-6 over China at the Granly Hockey Arena, Canada dropped a 9-4 decision to Russia’s Liudmila Privivkova on Sunday to fall to 1-1, along with four other nations. Holland never had the lead in the afternoon draw, as Privivkova took two in the second, three in the fourth and two in the sixth for a commanding 7-2 lead. After Canada cut the margin with singles in the seventh and a steal in the eighth, Russia closed the door with a deuce in the ninth for the victory. “That’s called not being very sharp,” explained Holland. “We just didn’t make many shots today. We had trouble getting our rocks in the right places. They got their rocks in some good spots and we didn’t counter with the right shots afterwards. “I think it’s just a little bit about getting comfortable with the ice and comfortable with what we need to do here. It’s nothing special. We had a few players who were struggling a little bit and that doesn’t help, because you’ve got to be firing on all four cylinders.” Canada faces winless Denmark (Lene Nielsen) in the upcoming Draw 5. Still unbeaten at 2-0 are defending champion Germany (Andrea Schöpp of Garmisch-Partenkirchen) and Norway (Linn Githmark of Oslo), both of whom had byes. In other games, Czech Republic, making its world women’s debut under skip by Anna Kubeskova, also suffered its first loss, 9-3 to veteran Mirjam Ott of Switzerland. The two-time Olympic silver medallist Ott stole singles in the seventh, eighth and ninth ends for the win to move to 2-1, along with Russia. Joining Canada at 1-1, in addition to Czech Republic, are China, skipped by 2009 world champion and 2010 Olympic bronze medallist Bingyu Wang of Harbin, which thumped Korea (Mi-Sung Shin), 9-3; Scotland (Anna Sloan), which stole a single in the 10th end to edge United States (Patti Lank of Lewiston, NY), 7-6 and Sweden, skipped by two-time and reigning Olympic champion Anette Norberg, which also enjoyed a bye. The United States fell to 1-2, with Denmark (0-2) and Korea (0-3) rounding out the field of 12 countries. Round robin play continues with Draw 5 later today. TSN will be televising many Canada round robin games live, including today’s tilt against Denmark, plus the playoffs. In other Draw 5 games, Scotland meets Sweden, Norway faces Czech Republic and Germany takes on China.