Korea awaits the winner
The final six have been decided at the women’s world fours championship in Uijeongbu, Korea and Canada didn’t quite make it to a direct playoff berth
The Rachel Homan squad won their last round-robin match 7-5 over China’s Rui Wang but it wasn’t enough, and the defending world champions will battle Scotland’s Sophie Jackson in Saturday’s first qualifying round.
The winner gets a date with hosts Korea in one semifinal. The Koreans, skipped by Gim Un-Chi, needed an extra-end to dispatch USA’s Tabitha Peterson 8-7 in Friday’s round-robin finale.
On the other side of the playoff draw, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg will face China; the winner gets Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni in the other semifinal.
The Swiss secured first place with an 11-1 won/loss record in the round-robin. Canada and Korea tied for second at 10-2, but Korea’s victory over Canada early in the week gave them the semifinal berth.
Sweden finished at 9-3 while China and Scotland produced 7-5 records.
“An extra game to get the feel of the ice? That’s fine, too,” said Canada third Tracy Fleury. “We’ve been playing all two-game days lately, so what’s one more? We're ready.
“We tried not to get down about the (loss to Scotland) and just learn from it. Since then, we’ve been trending in the right direction, so we’re feeling good.”
Scotland dealt Canada their first loss in the round-robin—in the first draw of action almost a week ago.
Canada skip Homan has been battling a stye in her eye, resulting in her wearing glasses when calling the game, but removing them to throw her stones.
The winners of the semifinals advance to the gold medal game on Sunday (3:00 a.m. ET) while the losers play earlier in the day for the bronze medal (Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET).
A statistical anomaly was noted by World Curling TV commentator Hans Frauenlob—who is also a columnist for The Curling News—revealing that three teams tied (for second) in Draw Shot Challenge rankings over the week.
