Canada beats Switzerland, moves into third place tie at Capital One World Women’s

Canada’s Amber Holland prevailed over Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott, 7-4 Wednesday afternoon at the Capital One World Women’s Curling Championship in Esbjerg, Denmark, to improve to 5-3 in the 12-nation round robin. The crucial victory, sealed with a three-spot in the ninth end, elevated Canada into a third place tie with China and Denmark, behind only idle Sweden (7-1) and Russia (6-3). The Canadian squad of Holland, Kim Schneider, Tammy Schneider and Heather Kalenchuk, representing the Kronau Curling Club in Saskatchewan, were on fire, shooting 88% as a team, compared to Switzerland’s 79%, while Holland held a significant 89%-72% edge over Ott. “It’s always fun when you’re making shots and things are going your way,” said Holland. “Early in the game we had things not going our way, but towards the end, we were pretty strong. “In the ninth, we were a little fortunate with Mirjam hitting and rolling out, but we’d put our rocks in some good spots and knew we were getting our one. “We’ve still got some work to do to reach the last four, we know that, but we’re just focusing on us and what we need to do, and the rest will take of itself. That’s how we’ve always approached it and we’re continuing to do that.” Holland now faces another major test Wednesday evening, colliding with Sweden’s two-time Olympic gold medallist Anette Norberg, before finishing up with Korea and Germany on Thursday. On playing Sweden tonight, Holland continued, “It’s not about beating anyone. It’s just about going out there and playing our game. Big finishes? We’re not an overly aggressive team and put a ton of rocks in play to wipe someone off the scoreboard. This is a last four-end team. We do come out strong in the last few ends and we’re comfortable there.” The loss dropped the Swiss to 5-4, their second loss of the day, after being clipped by Sweden, 9-8 in an extra end in the morning draw. The three other games in Draw 13 were all blowouts. Korea (Mi-Sung Shin) took care of Scotland’s Anna Sloan, 9-3 while notching its second win of the week. China’s 2009 world champion Bingyu Wang pummelled United States’ Patti Lank, 14-5, stealing four in the sixth end, then counting four in the eighth, while Russia (Anna Sidorova) was a 12-3 winner over Czech Republic’s Anna Kubeskova. “We are getting better,” said Sidorova. “We do what we can and we have good luck on our side too. I know that we can make the last four, and all the girls know that we can too – that’s what we are trying to do.”