Curling in Russia - World Junior Curling Championships 2011. Perth, Scotland

The 2011 World Junior Curling Championships get underway this Saturday - 5th March - at the Dewars Centre in Perth, Scotland.

This is the first time since 1995 that these Championships have returned to the nation that is thought of as the spiritual home of the sport, and ten each of the top junior women's and junior men's teams from the World Curling Federation's (WCF) Americas, European and Pacific regional zones will be playing for medals and titles in the eight days of competition.

To compete at a World Junior Championship, players must be aged under 21 by the end of June of the year preceding the event, and the competing nations are:
Junior Women's Teams: Scotland, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Japan, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, USA.
Junior Men's Teams: Scotland, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, USA.

Russian Junior Women's National Team 2011

Team line-up (from left to right):
- Olga Andrianova (coach)
- Voctoria Moiseeva(second, vice-skip)
- Galina Arsen'kina (lead)
- Ekaterina Antonova(third)
- Olga Zyablikova (alternate)
- Anna Sidorova (forth, skip)

Ladie's. Day by Day:

05.03.2011 (Saturday)
Day 1:
Ladies, 17:00 (here and after Moscow time)
A

Czech Republic -

Japan 5-7
B

France -

USA 2-12
C

Canada -

Sweden 2-9
D

Scotland -

Norway 10-2
E

Switzerland -

Russia 3-7

Canada's Trish Paulsen went down to a 2-9 defeat at the hands of Sweden's Jonna McManus in Saturday's opening session of women's round-robin play at the World Junior Curling Championships, being staged in the Dewar's Centre, Perth, Scotland.

Other opening day women's winners were Scotland's Eve Muirhead, who beat Norway's Kristine Davanger by 10-2 in just eight ends, thanks largely to a score of three in the sixth and a steal of four in the eighth; Russia's Anna Sidorova, with a 7-3 win over Switzerland's Manuela Siegrist; USA's Rebecca Hamilton, who beat France's Anna Li by 12-2; and Japan's Sataka Yoshimura, who beat Anna Kubeskova of the Czech Republic by 7-5.

Scotland's Muirhead was playing in front of a home crowd as she started her campaign for her fourth world junior crown, and she said, "It's really good out there, a lot of support - perhaps more than I thought would be in for the first draw, but it makes such a difference having that home crowd behind you".

Meanwhile, Canada's Trish Paulsen admitted her team were having trouble settling in so far, saying, "The girls struggled a little bit and I struggled a little bit. They had trouble in judging weight and finding our weight. That was tough and unfortunate. The ice is a little different to what we're used to basically, so we're just trying to adjust to that... first day problems."

Her opponents were pleased with their win, which they sealed with a draw for five in the seventh and a further single steal in the eighth. Skip Jonna McManus said, "It felt good to win that. My team played very well. We knew we had to be patient and wait for the right moment and go on the offensive. It was nice to be able to take five, the girls did so well that it was easy for me to do the last draw and go for the five."

USA's Rebecca Hamilton was also pleased to open with a win. "It's always good to start a tournament with a win straight away. The worlds is a great experience. I think our team played well and earned our way here. We will just try to represent our country well."

06.03.2011 (Sunday)
Day 2:
Ladies, 12:00
A

Norway -

Canada 4-10
B

Sweden -

Japan 7-6
C

Russia -

Czech Republic 9-6

USA -

Switzerland 10-8
E

France -

Scotland 0-12

Ladies, 22:00
A

USA -

Russia 2-5

Switzerland -

Scotland 4-10
C

France -

Norway 2-11
D

Canada -

Japan 6-7
E

Czech Republic -

Sweden 7-8

After three rounds of play in the women's round-robin at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland, Russia, Scotland and Sweden are unbeaten in joint top position.

Russia's Anna Sidorova followed up a morning 9-6 win over the Czech Republic's Anna Kubeskova with a 5-2 win that handed USA's Rebecca Hamilton her first loss - Hamilton having beaten Switzerland's Manuela Siegrist by 10-8 in morning play.

After the game against USA, Sidorva said, "It was a really difficult game for us because it was necessary to be patient to take control over the game. The first five ends were defensive and it was difficult to get more stones in play."

Meanwhile USA's lead Sophie Brorson was celebrating her 20th birthday. "I was hoping to win both on my birthday but you know you win some and you lose some. She said. "I don't think we actually played better, I think things just went more our way this morning (against Switzerland). It was upsetting that we lost but I think we've played as well as we could."

Sweden's Jonna McManus beat Japan's Sayaka Yoshimura by 7-6 in the morning game, before maintaining her unbeaten record in another tight game, beating the Czech Republic by 8-7.

Scotland's Eve Muirhead, going for a record fourth world junior title on home ice had a 12-0 six-end whitewash over France's Anna Li in the morning, and then another comfortable win, by 10-4 over Switzerland, eventually delivering a perfect raised take-out and stay to score four in the ninth and end the game.

Afterwards, Muirhead said, "That was a solid game. We played well and I think we all stepped up. We took control from the start. If we can keep playing as solid as that, I'm sure we can give every team a good run for their money.

Speaking about playing at home, she added, "The support is great. It's so different being at home. The atmosphere is great and it's terrific to play in something like this. It's great fun."

After recording her first win in the morning, with a 10-4 win over Norway's Kristine Davanger, Canada's Trish Paulsen went down by 6-7 to Japan in the evening game, largely because of giving up a steal of four in the third end.

Afterwards, Canadian third Kari Kennedy said, "That wasn't expected, but it's better to give up a four early in the game to give yourself a chance to claw back, and we almost did. We had our chances, we know we can play better and we will."

07.03.2011 (Monday)
Day 3:
Ladies, 17:00
A

Switzerland -

France 11-1
B

Czech Republic -

Canada 6-4
C

USA -

Scotland 3-8
D

Sweden -

Russia 4-9

Japan -

Norway 7-8

Scotland's Eve Muirhead and Russia's Anna Sidorova share the lead on four wins and no losses after four sessions of round-robin play at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth.

The Scots were in control throughout, scoring two in the first end and stealing a single in the second to set up an 8-3 win over USA's Rebecca Hamilton. Meanwhile, Russia handed Sweden's Jonna McManus her first loss, winning by 9-4.

Afterwards, the Scottish skip Muirhead, who is shooting for a unique fourth world junior crown, said, "That was a good game, a solid game like last night, and we got on top of them from the start as we planned. We put the pressure on and then she (USA skip Hamilton) started to get a bit annoyed at herself and at her team. We were really capitalising on all of their mistakes and just played well."

She also confirmed she was pleased with how her team is playing and supporting her. "We're all playing well. Rhiann is playing excellent at lead and we're getting set up from the start which makes things ten times easier. Vicki's peeling well and Anna's playing well too. So I can't complain at all about my team - I like it when I have easy shots to play."

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic, skipped by Anna Kubeskova, grabbed their first win of the week, beating Canada's Trish Paulsen by 6-4.

This means Canada has just one win out of four starts, and afterwards Paulsen explained what had happened. "That was a tough one. It took me a while to find my draw-weight. The ice was really good and we started to gradually adjust to it, but we had a few missed shots and we ended up with that really hurting us."

Asked if she was starting to feel pressure about staying alive in the medal hunt, she said, "There's a lot of competition left, so we're ready to play the rest of it. The only pressure I'm under is the pressure I put on myself, so basically, that's what I have to do right now."

Elsewhere, Norway's Kristine Davanger recovered from being 0-6 down after four ends to eventually beat Japan's Sayaka Yoshimura by 8-7, while Switzerland's Manuela Siegrist handed France's Anna Li her fourth loss, with an 11-1 win. Despite their best efforts, the French remain anchored at the bottom of the table without a win, and are now in real danger of being relegated into next season's European Junior Challenge competition.

08.03.2011 (Tuesday)
Day 4:
Ladies, 12:00
A

Scotland -

Czech Republic 6-4
B

Norway -

Switzerland 10-4
C

Japan -

Russia 1-10

France -

Canada 4-15
E

Sweden -

USA 2-8

Ladies, 22:00
A

Russia -

Norway 9-3

Scotland -

Sweden 6-7 (EE)
C

Czech Republic -

France 11-3
D

Japan -

USA 7-6 (EE)
E

Canada -

Switzerland 3-10

Russia's Anna Sidorova tops the rankings, undefeated, in the women's competition after six sessions of play at the World Junior Curling Championships 2011 in Perth, Scotland.

Sidorova and Scotland's Eve Muirhead are scheduled to meet each other on Thursday, the final day of round-robin play and this game could be the decider as to which of them eventually tops the rankings.

On Tuesday morning, Russia cruised to a 10-1 win over Japan's Sayaka Yoshimura and followed that up with a 9-3 win over Norway's Kristine Davanger. Afterwards, Sidorova said, "When we came into the competition we thought we could make the top four and we should be there. But we still have to play three games."

In the same sessions, Scotland's Eve Muirhead beat the Czech Republic's Anna Kubeskova by 6-4 but then went down by 6-7 to Sweden's Jonna McManus in a game that went down to a last stone measure before the Swedes got confirmation of their single steal for victory.

After their engrossing game, McManus said, "That was a very important win for us on the rankings. We played so badly in the last game and the game before, so we really needed to pick it up", while Muirhead commented, "It was one of those games. We played it the way we wanted to and had hammer coming down the last. We'd be happy to take them any other day. We're sitting second now it's only one loss and no-one likes a run that goes unbeaten during the Championships."

Behind Russia and Scotland, Sweden sits in third place on four wins and two losses. Norway, Japan, Switzerland and USA share the crucial fourth spot.

On the day that their Association announced the appointment of their first-ever High Performance Director Scotland's Derek Brown USA had a mixed day. Skip Rebecca Hamilton led her team to an 8-2 win over Sweden but then went down to an extra end 6-7 loss to Japan's Sayaka Yoshimura.

After that game Yoshimura said, "When we went into the extra end I knew I was going to win it. We have been struggling so far and it's a tough event and we still have some tough games to play.

After losing by 4-10 to Norway in the morning, Switzerland's Manuela Siegrist beat Canada's Trish Paulsen by 10-3 to share fourth place and stay in the play-off hunt.

This Canadian defeat followed their easy 15-4 win over France. The Czech Republic's Anna Kubeskova also beat France by 11-3. Canada and the Czechs share the same won two, lost four record, while, despite their best efforts, France have yet to win a game.

09.03.2011 (Wednesday)
Day 5:
Ladies, 17:00
A

France -

Sweden 2-11
B

Canada -

Russia 6-3

Norway -

USA 1-7
D

Switzerland -

Czech Republic 6-3
E

Scotland -

Japan 10-2

Canada's Trish Paulsen, fighting for survival, beat Russia's Anna Sidorova, already assured of a Page Play-off place, by 6-3 in one of the major encounters of the seventh session of round-robin play at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland on Wednesday afternoon.

The game was close all the way until Paulsen scored two in the eighth end and stole two in the ninth for a 6-2 lead. Russia scored one in the tenth, but it was not enough.

Afterwards, Paulsen, who has to beat USA and then Scotland in her last two round-robin games on Thursday to keep her campaign alive, said, "We were fighting for our lives out there... it was that kind of game. When we have a goal in mind and when we have to win, we play great. We showed that we're able to play here, so if we keep playing like that we've still got a chance for the play-offs."

Scotland's Eve Muirhead cruised to a 10-2 win over Japan's Sayaka Yoshimura to not only re-join Russia at the top of the rankings, but also to ensure her Page Play-off place. Afterwards, Muirhead said, "That was a really solid game by all of us. I don't think it was a case of them missing a lot of shots, it was more us putting so much pressure on them and leaving them difficult shots."

The organisers have sold out all tickets for Sunday's women's final, with a huge local expectation that Muirhead going for a record fourth junior world title will be involved. About that, she said, "We're hoping that we make it to please everyone, but I think I've just got to forget about that. We shouldn't take any pressure from that at all."

Sweden's Jonna McManus beat France's Anna Li by 11-2 to establish a clear third place on the rankings. This was yet another heavy defeat for winless France, who will now face a challenge for their place in next year's line-up, but, remarkably, Li and her team were still able to take the positives out of their experience.

Li said, "It's been a difficult week, but my team only started curling in September. At the moment I am on a year studying at university in Southern Spain and there's not any ice to practise there! I've tried to come back to France to train as much as possible. But we've all had a taste of a world championship and we are not giving up. Our plan is to move on to play the European Championships C group competition in September."

Meanwhile, USA's Rebecca Hamilton beat Norway's Kristine Davanger by 7-1 to move into a clear fourth, leaving Norway in a tie with Japan, Canada and Switzerland's Manuela Siegrist on three wins each and fifth place.

In her seventh session game Siegrist beat the Czech Republic's Anna Kubeskova, who now cannot qualify for the medal section, by 6-3. After this game, Siegrist said, "It was a very tight game, both teams made a lot of good shots. We played a lot of take-outs so the game was tight but I think we never gave up. Our games against Sweden and Japan tomorrow are very important. The standard of competition is higher than in Flims last year."

10.03.2011 (Thursday)
Day 6:
Ladies, 11:00
A

Canada -

USA 8-2
B

Japan -

France 9-10
C

Sweden -

Switzerland 4-6
D

Russia -

Scotland 4-7

Norway -

Czech Republic 5-7

Ladies, 20:00
A

Japan -

Switzerland 4-9
B

USA -

Czech Republic 7-6
C

Scotland -

Canada 4-6
D

Norway -

Sweden 8-4
E

Russia -

France 8-1

Despite losing their final round-robin game by 4-6 to Canada's Trish Paulsen, Eve Muirhead and her Scotland team still finished top of the rankings at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland, on seven wins and two losses, ahead of Russia's Anna Sidorova on the same 7-2 record, because of the Scots 6-4 win over the Russians earlier on Thursday. These top two teams now face each other again in Saturday morning's Page 1 v 2 Play-off.

Paulsen's victory over Scotland her second back-to-the-wall win of the day, after she beat USA's Rebecca Hamilton by 8-2 in the morning gave her five wins. It also placed Canada in a four-way tie-break situation, along with USA, Switzerland (who had skip Manuela Siegrist absent for their final game, which they won by 9-4 over Japan) and defending champions Sweden, who went down to 4-8 to Kristine Davanger's Norway, after also losing to Switzerland earlier by 4-6.

After the game against Scotland, Paulsen said, "We played great today and I'm sure we're going to keep that going in the tie-break. We put some solid games together and executed very well. We came out on top and that's what we had to do."

The USA beat the Czech Republic by 7-6 in their final round-robin game to reach five wins, and these four teams now line-up in two sudden-death play-offs - USA v Canada and Switzerland v Sweden to determine the Page 3 v 4 line-up.

After her victory over the Czechs, USA skip Hamilton said, "This is my first time skipping at a world event. I think my team has backed me up pretty well and given me some shots I can make. It works well when the team meshes well. All the teams tied with us are strong, so we're going to have a tough game."

France finally got a win on the scoreboard on Thursday morning, after a week of struggling, by beating Japan's Sayaka Yoshimura by 10-9, thanks to an outstanding final shot by skip Anna Li that gave them three points in the tenth end for their win.

Afterwards, Li said, "I'm still recovering from my nervousness but I'm overjoyed. I'm really pleased to have made that shot. We are delighted to have at least one win in this championship. It's phenomenal. However after that, they lost their final game by 1-8 to Russia."

Scotland, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and the Czech Republic are guaranteed spots at the 2012 World Junior Championships women's event which it was announced on Thursday will be stage in Ostersund, Sweden from 3-11 March.

The winner of the Canada-USA tiebreaker on Friday secures a place and the loser may have to face a regional challenge. The winner of the 2012 Pacific juniors will secure the World Curling Federation's Pacific region spot and France is relegated to the European Junior Curling Challenge in January 2012 where the final European place will be decided.

11.03.2011 (Friday)
Day 7:
Tie breaks, 17:00
A

USA -

Canada 3-9
C

Switzerland -

Sweden 4-7

Canada's women kept their revival going with their fourth successive win, beating USA by 9-3 in their tie-breaker game at the 2011 World junior Curling Championships in Perth Scotland on Friday afternoon.

This game turned on two mistakes by USA skip Rebecca Hamilton. In the third end, she had a complete miss to hand Canada's Trish Paulsen the opportunity to steal two for a 5-0 lead, and then, in the eighth, Hamilton missed an attempted double, leaving Canada with a steal of one. After a lengthy team debate, USA then conceded.

Afterwards, Paulsen said, "Her flash in three really set the ball rolling for us. Getting up 5-0 is really strong in world competition and that really set us in motion. We just played defensive after that, and that was that. I'm not keeping track of how many successive wins that is, I just know I've got to win every game."

Speaking about the third end in which she faced a pair of Canadian counters and opted to play the hit rather than the draw, setting up the Canadian steal of two, she said, "Things were just not going our way today. Not enough ice, turned it in. It was kind of the turn of the game. I think our shoulders went down a little bit."

Looking forward, she added, "It's my first year skipping, so I am happy to be at the Worlds. We have one more year of juniors together, so hopefully we'll see everyone in Ostersund again!"

Canada's Trish Paulsen now plays Sweden's Jonna McManus, who beat Switzerland by 7-4 in the other tie-breaker, in Saturday morning's Page 3 v 4 game, with the winner playing a semi-final against whichever of Scotland or Russia loses the Page 1 v 2 game, and the loser awaiting the eventual semi-final loser to play for bronze medals on Sunday.

Switzerland skip Manuela Siegrist had missed out on the last round-robin game because of illness, but, having returned for the tie-breaker, she did not use that as an excuse. She said, "Physically I am fit now after being ill yesterday. We had our chances but they played really well and we didn't take advantage of our chances."

Meanwhile Swedish skip Jonna McManus, who now has her regular third player and sister Sara throwing fourth stones said, "Sara played some great shots and explaining the line-up shuffle, she added, "I'm sick and not doing very well, my body isn't working as it should and I haven't played that good and she is playing very good so it felt perfect for her to throw last stones."

12.03.2011 (Saturday)
Day 8:
Play Off. 1v2, 15:00
C

Russia -

Scotland 6-7 (EE)

Play Off. 3v4, 15:00
B

Canada -

Sweden 9-6

Semifinal, 21:00
D

Russia -

Canada 8-9

In the women's semi-final, Canada's Trish Paulsen beat Russia's Anna Sidorova by 9-7, thanks largely to scores of threes in the second, fourth and eighth ends.

As a result, the Canadians will face local girl Eve Muirhead of Scotland in Sunday afternoon's sell-out final.

Afterwards, Paulsen said, "I missed a key draw for four in the second which kind of took the wind out of my sails for a little bit but after that we just kept rolling and, yes, the threes do tell the story, we played really well. I think the girls put pressure on the front end for the whole game, and the back end as well. They played great, but they just missed a few key shots and we capitalised on that."

Looking forward to the final against Scotland, she said, "It's going to be a great game. When we played Scotland in the round robin we had a great game against them to win and I don't expect anything less than that."

Now, as Canada and Scotland battle it out for the title, Russia will play current world champions Sweden for bronze.

13.03.2011 (Sunday)
Day 9:
Bronze Medal Game, 16:00
B

Russia -

Sweden 9-3

Photo: World Curling Federation / Richard Gray

Gold Medal Game, 16:00
C

Scotland -

Canada 10-3

Scotland's Eve Muirhead claimed a record fourth world junior title when she led her team of Anna Sloan, Vicky Adams and Rhiann Macleod to a 10-3 victory over Canada's Trish Paulsen, Kari Kennedy, Kari Paulsen and Natalie Yanko in Sunday's women's final of the World Junior Curling Championships 2011 in Perth, Scotland.

Muirhead's team attacked from the start, scoring a two in the first end which could have been three if Muirhead's final stone had not rolled out of the house.

The teams swapped single points in the next two ends and, in the fourth, when she faced four Scottish counters, Paulsen was light with her draw and gave up a steal of three to go 1-6 down.

After this, Canada had a mountain to climb, and the result was put beyond any lingering doubt when Scotland stole a further two points in the seventh when Paulsen's final draw sailed on past two Scottish counters, for a 10-2 lead to Scotland.

Canada scored one in the eighth end, and then conceded.

After the game, Muirhead said, "That was a great game for us, we all played well and made no mistakes out there and gave them no chance. That's what happens when you do that, you can put the pressure on."

She added, "We knew we had to come out strong, Canada are a great team. We knew we had to do that to get the win. We gave them nothing and that's the way we wanted to play. We didn't miss anything, we placed the stones exactly where we wanted them."

About her fourth title, she said, "To win it four times feels pretty good, each time feels just as good as every other time, but this is special. I'm finished with juniors now, but I don't think I could have achieved any more in my junior career than to win the world title four times."

A tearful Paulsen said, "We just didn't play our greatest game, Scotland came out and played very well. I missed a few key shots and it just didn't go our way. But I've felt proud of every game we won."

Russia's Anna Sidorova and her team of Galina Arsenkina, Viktoria Moiseeva and Ekaterina Antonova beat Sweden's defending champions Sofia Mabergs, Anna Huhta and sisters Jonna and Sara McManus, by 9-3 to claim bronze.

Sidorova said, "This is good but we can still do better, and I hope next year we will show that we can. That was a bit better than the semi-final. It's good to win bronze because it's my first medal, but next year I'll do better, I hope."

The World Junior Curling Championships 2012 will take place in Ostersund, Sweden from 3-11 March. Scotland, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and the Czech Republic have all qualified for next year's event. USA, Japan and France face challenges and regional qualification events to make it to Sweden.

World Junior Curling Championships 2011 Womens Teams:

- Canada
Team: Trish Paulsen (skip), Kari Kennedy, Kari Paulsen, Natalie Yanko, Dailene Siverston
Coach: Robert Miller

- Russia
Team: Anna Sidorova (skip), Olga Zyblikova, Ekaterina Antonova, Galina Arsenkina, Vita Moiseeva
Coach: Olga Andrianova

- USA
Team: Rebecca Hamilton (skip), Tara Peterson, Karlie Koenig, Sophie Brorson, Rebecca Funk
Coach: Neil Doese

- France
Team: Anna Li (skip), Clemence Gainet, Salome Bourny, Emma Ferrari
Coach: Jan-Henri Ducroz

- Czech Republic
Team: Anna Kubeskova (skip), Tereza Pliskova, Paula Proksikova, Eliska Jalovcova, Martina Strnadova
Coach: Karel Kubeska

- Switzerland
Team: Manuela Siegrist (skip), Briar Hurlimann, Claudia Hug, Janine Wyss, Alina Patz
Coaches: Corinne Bourquin

- Sweden
Team: Jonna McManus (skip), Sara McManus, Anna Huhta, Sofia Mabergs, Rosalie Egli
Coaches: Mikael Hasselborg

- Scotland
Team: Eve Muirhead (skip), Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams, Rhiann Macleod, Alice Spence
Coaches: Gordon Muirhead

- Norway
Team: Kristine Davanger (skip), Pia Trulsen, Nora Hilding, Julie Kjaer Molnar, Marie Odnes
Coaches: Tormod Andreassen

- Japan
Team: Sayaka Yoshimura (skip), Rina Ida, Risa Ujihara, Mao Ishigaki, Nanami Ohmiya
Coaches: Hirofumi Kobayashi

Men's. Day by Day:

05.03.2011 (Saturday)
Day 1:
Mens, 12:00 (here and after Moscow time)
A

Denmark -

China 2-9
B

Canada -

Norway 7-9 (EE)
C

Scotland -

Finland 8-4
D

Sweden -

Switzerland 6-7 (EE)
E

USA -

Czech Republic 8-3

Mens, 22:00
A

Switzerland -

Scotland 6-7
B

Finland -

China 9-6
C

Czech Republic -

Denmark 3-8
D

Norway -

USA 9-3
E

Canada -

Sweden 5-6 (EE)

Canada's Braeden Moskowy and his Saskatchewan team came into the 2001 World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland on a twenty-game winning streak, having gone through Canada's province and national championships unbeaten, but this record was undone twice in the opening day's play.

First Norway's Steffen Mellemseter beat the Canadians by 9-7 in an extra end, and then Sweden took a 6-5 victory when Moskowy's last draw for his first win was heavy and long in the tenth end.

Norway then went on to beat USA's Aaron Wald by 8-3. "It's our fifth appearance in a World Juniors", said Mellemseter after the game, "We've never had two victories on the first day! So it's a pretty good start."

Scotland's debut boy, John Penny, followed up a morning 8-4 win over Finland's Iiro Sipola with a 7-6 victory over Switzerland's defending champions, led by Peter de Cruz. The game was only finally decided when an umpire's measure gave the winning shot to the Scots. These results mean that Norway and Scotland share top spot on the rankings, with two wins and no losses.

After losing to Norway, which undid his winning run, Canada's Moskowy said, "That wasn't part of the plan to lose that one. It sucks, but we knew our winning streak had to end sometime, while after his second loss he said, "This is probably the worst day of my career. We wanted to come in and have a strong first day, but there's nothing we can do about it now. When you're playing against good teams like Sweden, all you can ask for is a shot to win. We gave ourselves that, but unfortunately I did not execute it and that's too bad."

By contrast, Scotland's Penny said, "That was absolutely great, we just went in to play our own game, the normal game the way we have been playing it, no different really."

Six teams China, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and USA are now on one win and one loss, while, like Canada, the Czech Republic are still looking for their first win.

06.03.2011 (Sunday)
Day 2:
Mens, 17:00
A

Norway -

Czech Republic 7-3
B

USA -

Sweden 1-10
C

Canada -

Switzerland 7-9
D

Scotland -

China 4-5
E

Denmark -

Finland 6-8

Thanks to a 7-3 win over the Czech Republic in the third session of round-robin play at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland, Norway's Steffen Mellemseter stands alone, unbeaten at the top of the rankings.

Behind Norway, five teams share second place on just one loss. These include defending champions Switzerland, who handed Canada's Braeden Moskowy his third straight loss, delivering a perfectly-weighted draw in a tense tenth end, for a 9-7 win.

Afterwards, Swiss skip Peter de Cruz said, "We've had a good start to the tournament, but something was missing in our attitude and it completely changed in that game against Canada we really got going and put our real game down. They had a bit of difficulty at the beginning of the game and we played better, that made a difference. We just hung on."

Moskowy also conceded that his team had a poor start to the game, saying, "We started off pretty slowly, and couldn't work out the ice at all. But the second half was the best we've played since we've been here. We battled back when we were down, so I guess that's something we can build on going forward."

On the next sheet China's Jihui Huang brought the hosts winning start to an end when he played a perfect shot around a front guard with his last stone to score one in the tenth for a 5-4 win.

Afterwards, Scottish skip John Penny said, "I thought we'd done enough in that last end to win it. I played two good shots in that tenth, but so did he, and he did enough to win...that's curling."

Finland beat Denmark by 8-6 after an extra end, a result that pleased skip Iiro Sipola, who said, "I felt good about the win but that was not particularly a great game. The important thing for us is to keep our place at the World Championships and avoid relegation to the championship qualifying event. With two wins, we are beginning to feel more comfortable about that."

In the fifth game of the session, Sweden's Oskar Eriksson beat USA's Aaron Wald by a comfortable 10-1 in just seven ends, including a score of five in the third.

07.03.2011 (Monday)
Day 3:
Mens, 12:00
A

USA -

Canada 2-9
B

Denmark -

Scotland 5-7
C

Norway -

Sweden 5-8
D

Finland -

Czech Republic 6-4
E

China -

Switzerland 9-6

Mens, 22:00
A

Sweden -

Denmark 10-3
B

Switzerland -

USA 7-4
C

China -

Czech Republic 5-6
D

Canada -

Scotland 10-5
E

Finland -

Norway 5-9

In an action-packed fifth session of men's round-robin play on Monday evening at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland, the Czech Republic's Lukas Klima recorded his first win, beating China by 6-5, while Norway and Sweden picked up another win each to sit tied on four wins and one loss at the top of the standings.

Canada broke their losing run in the morning session with a 9-2 win over USA. After that game, Skip Braeden Moskowy said, "So that's what winning feels like, I'd forgotten. I'm happy and relieved. That was a pretty frustrating start but we just have to keep building. It's not like we're playing badly."we've been unfortunate and missed a few key shots, but that's the real Team Canada, for sure.

In the evening Moskowy beat a three man Scottish side 10-5. The Scottish men have been battling illness as well as their opponents as they strive to stay in the medal hunt. On Sunday, third player Colin Dick fell ill with a stomach bug. On Monday morning, it was skip John Penny's turn, but his teammates went out to beat Denmark 7-5. By the evening alternate Jay McWilliam was ill and Dick was back in action as Skip as Penny remained out of action.

After the game against Canada, Dick said, "That was tough. We all turned up and gave it 100% effort, but on the night it just wasn't enough."

China, skipped by Jihui Huang, continued good progress with a 9-6 win over Peter de Cruz's Swiss defending champions on Monday morning. But on Monday evening, the Czech Republic without a win so far proved too strong, and led throughout before a well-swept final draw gave Lukas Klima his first win, at 6-5.

Afterwards, an elated Klima said, "We have been struggling with reading the ice and with our right turn draw. We lost four matches in a row and it was terrible. So finally we've won and we're happy of course. We decided to play a little more offensively against China and put them under pressure and it worked."

Norway's Steffen Mellemseter had a mixed day, following up a 5-8 loss to Sweden's Oskar Eriksson with a 9-5 win over Finland's Iiro Sipola. After the second game he said, "China have just lost to the Czech Republic. They'll be hungry for a win so we will have to be sharp tomorrow. We came into this event with the goal of making the playoffs."

08.03.2011 (Tuesday)
Day 4:
Mens, 17:00
A

Czech Republic -

Switzerland 4-6
B

Sweden -

Finland 7-2
C

Denmark -

Canada 1-8
D

China -

Norway 6-5 (EE)
E

Scotland -

USA 8-4

Sweden beat Finland by 7-2 to stand alone at the top of the Men's rankings with five wins and one loss after the sixth session of round-robin play at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland on Tuesday.

Afterwards Swedish skip Oskar Eriksson (who still has to face China, Czech Republic and Scotland) said, "We have to win at least two more games in order to qualify for the 1v2 playoff game, the goal is to go the playoffs and win a medal and hopefully it's a Gold one!"

While Canada cruised to their third straight win beating Denmark by 8-1 in just six ends to bring themselves back into the mix, an illness-induced three-man Scottish line-up battled to an 8-4 win over USA.

After his bout of illness, Scottish skip John Penny came back onto the ice against USA and said "That was very important, it was a result we needed. I was really struggling for five ends but after I had something to eat at the break, I started to play more again."

Meanwhile, USA skip Aaron Wald said, "We've had a tough week, but we're just going to go out for the last few games, have fun and try to win 'em. We've not been consistent. We had trouble with the ice on the first couple of losses and still haven't gotten it back yet."

China emerged as 6-5 winners over Norway after an extra end, a result that was heavily influenced when Norwegian skip Steffen Mellemseter slipped with the delivery of his final stone of the eighth end, to let China score three. Afterwards, Chinese skip Jihui Huang was gracious about the incident. "The most important thing is that curling is a team game and all members of the team should be ready to forgive any mistakes made by any member of the team."

More generally, he added, "I tried to be as relaxed as possible to play the final shot. Every team here is playing at a high level, this is a world championship with the best teams in the world. Every team merits being here. Yesterday we lost to the Czech Republic and gave them their first win. Today, we beat Norway who were at the top of the table."

In the fifth game of the session defending champions Switzerland beat the Czech Republic by 6-4 to keep their title defence alive.

09.03.2011 (Wednesday)
Day 5:
Mens, 12:00
A

Canada -

Finland 11-7
B

Scotland -

Czech Republic 9-7
C

Switzerland -

Norway 8-3
D

USA -

Denmark 8-6
E

Sweden -

China 8-3

Mens, 22:00
A

Scotland -

Norway 6-8
B

China -

Canada 2-7
C

Finland -

USA 1-5
D

Czech Republic -

Sweden 4-6
E

Switzerland -

Denmark 5-2

Following their two wins on Wednesday, beating China by 8-3, and then the Czech Republic by 6-4, table-topping Sweden, skipped by Oskar Eriksson, are assured of a place in the Page 1 v 2 play-off game at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland, no matter what happens in their last game against Scotland on Thursday.

Behind Sweden in the rankings, reigning world champions from Switzerland led by Peter de Cruz also had two wins on Wednesday, by 8-3 over Norway and then by 5-2 over Denmark, to sit in clear second place, on six wins.

Tied in third place, with five wins are; Norway who went on to beat Scotland's John Penny by 8-6 after their morning loss to Switzerland; Scotland - who, in turn, had earlier beaten the Czechs by 9-7; and Canada. The Canadians are now on a five game winning roll, including by 11-7 over Finland's Iiro Sipola and by 7-2 against China's Jihui Huang on Wednesday. China are still in contention behind them on four wins.

On Wednesday evening, an elated Canadian skip Braeden Moskowy said, "We're getting close now, one more and then we're in the dance."

Meanwhile, Scottish skip Penny, whose team have been battling illness this week looked forward as faced a do-or-die game against table-topping Sweden, saying, "We're just going to go back now, have a good rest and a good sleep and get into the zone tomorrow. I'm feeling a lot better and whatever happens tomorrow happens, but we'll give it our best shot."

Following the 8-6 win over Scotland that caused the three-way tie in third place, Norwegian skip Steffen Mellemsetter said, "It was a really tough game. Tomorrow we have to beat Denmark and we have to step up our game a bit if we are going to get to the gold medal game. If we end up playing Canada in the 3v4 game we'll have to play as well as we did in the first match of the round robin against them."

The USA picked up second win in the evening beating Finland 5-1. "We went out and had fun, said USA Skip Aaron Wald after the game. He also explained "That was our last junior game together as a team. It felt good to actually go out and play well for once this week. We're bringing in our fifth for tomorrow."

With next year's Junior Championships scheduled to take place in Europe, either the Czech Republic or Denmark, who now share bottom place in the rankings with just one win each, will have to face qualification next year. Denmark play Norway on Thursday, while the Czechs are up against Canada.

10.03.2011 (Thursday)
Day 6:
Mens, 15:30
A

China -

USA 4-6
B

Norway -

Denmark 6-2
C

Sweden -

Scotland 4-3
D

Switzerland -

Finland 8-3
E

Czech Republic -

Canada 4-7

In a tense final round-robin session on Thursday at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland, Sweden's Oskar Eriksson beat Scotland's John Penny by 4-3 to rank first overall on eight wins and move into the 1 v 2 Page Play-off game. At the same time Scotland ranked fifth and ended a brave campaign that had seen them battle illness and struggle to muster enough players for their games.

Defending champions Switzerland will now face Sweden in the 1 v 2 game, after Peter de Cruz's team beat Finland's Iiro Sipola by 8-3.

Speaking afterwards, Sweden's Erikkson said, "It's too bad for Scotland, but it feels really good that we've won eight games in a row after we had a bad loss at the start against Switzerland. It feels very good to get into the number one play-off position and to have hammer. But we'll have to put pressure on Switzerland. They're very, very good with draws. We'll have to try to make them hit more, and we will need to be more aggressive than we were in the round robin game."

For his part, Switzerland's Peter de Cruz said, "We're into the situation we wanted and we'll try to go on from there. It's much harder to defend a title than to win the first, because everyone is expecting you, and most of the time they play their best game against us."

After the game, a bitterly disappointed Penny from Scotland was gracious enough to acknowledge his opponents' play. Speaking about Kristian Lindstrom's (Swedish fourth player) first stone in the tenth end that virtually sealed the Swedish win, he said, "He played a class shot, absolute class, and that gave him such a good chance."

Norway's Steffen Mellemseter beat Denmark's Mads Norgaard by 6-2 to seal third place with six wins and go onto the Page 3 v 4 game, where he will face Canada's Braeden Moskowy, who completed a remarkable repair mission after losing his first three games, by beating the Czech Republic's Lukas Klima by 7-4 for his sixth successive win and fourth place on the rankings.

Afterwards, Moskowy said, "We're into the playoffs now, no tie-breakers, so that's a pretty good feeling."

Asked about his early struggles after his extensive winning streak in Canada this season, he said, "It was a lot of fun when we went undefeated and coasted into the final but anytime you're into the playoffs it's a good feeling. If you'd told me at the start of the week we were in the fourth place and into the playoff I'm sure I'd have taken that."

In the fifth game of the session, USA's Aaron Wald had the consolation of closing his campaign with three straight wins, beating China's Jihui Huang by 6-4. These two teams now finish on the same won four, lost five record, in sixth and seventh places. Afterwards, Wald said, "We've had a rough time, but winning the last three games was nice. Towards the end of the week we came together a little bit and decided to curl a little better. We didn't need to think about winning or losing, we just went out and had fun."

With no tie-breakers needed, the men's Page games are scheduled for 19:00 local time on Friday, and the Challenge game for the last available European slot in next year's World Junior Curling Championships in Ostersund, Sweden will be played at the same time, with Denmark and the Czech Republic facing each other.

Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Scotland and Finland are guaranteed spots at the 2012 World Junior Championships men's event. USA may have to face a regional challenge and it is the winner of the 2012 Pacific juniors that will get the World Curling Federation's Pacific region place.

11.03.2011 (Friday)
Day 7:
Tie breaks not required, 12:00

Play Off. 1v2, 22:00
C

Sweden -

Switzerland 7-5

Play Off. 3v4, 22:00
B

Norway -

Canada 4-10

World Challenge Game, 22:00
A

Czech Rep. -

Denmark 6-5

Sweden's Oskar Eriksson booked his place in Sunday morning's men's final at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth, Scotland with a 7-3 win over defending champions Switzerland in the Page 1 v 2 Play-off game on Friday evening.

Switzerland's Peter de Cruz now plays in Saturday evening's semi-final, against Canada's Braeden Moskowy, who beat Norway's Steffen Mellemseter by 10-4 in the Page 3 v 4 Play-off game.

In this game, the Norwegians were 3-1 up after five ends, but big scores by Moskowy four in the sixth, three in the eighth and a steal of two in the ninth turned the tide. Norway now await the semi-final losers, to play for bronze medals on Sunday morning.

After the Page 1 v 2 game, Eriksson said, "It feels very good to be one game away from the title. This time round, we put some pressure on the Swiss fourth player, making him hit instead of playing the draws."

For his part, Switzerland's Peter de Cruz said, "We are kind of used to this now, I have to say. We've played the 1v2 game four or five times and we've always lost it. We played well and it was just one inch here and one inch there. It just wasn't meant to be that's life."

An elated Canadian skip Moskowy said after his win, "Still alive! Backs against the wall, but we've been doing that for quite a while here now. We pulled it off and get to play tomorrow."

Afterwards, Norway's Steffen Mellemseter was bitterly disappointed with the loss. "It's difficult to accept this defeat because we were actually playing better than Canada for half of the game until we gave up that four."

In the challenge game, the Czech Republic scored the two points they needed for victory in the tenth end and beat Denmark's Mads Norgaard by 6-5 to grab the last available European place in next year's World Junior Championship field in Ostersund, Sweden. Denmark must now go to the European Challenge event to re-qualify.

Czech skip Lukas Klima said, "We were struggling and we weren't playing how we wanted we were thinking all the time about a better positioning but finally we've made it to Ostersund so we're happy."

12.03.2011 (Saturday)
Day 8:
Semifinal, 21:00
D

Switzerland -

Canada 6-5

13.03.2011 (Sunday)
Day 9:
Bronze Medal Game, 12:00
B

Norway -

Canada 10-2

Gold Medal Game, 12:00
C

Switzerland -

Sweden 5-6

Oskar Eriksson and his Swedish team of twin brothers Alexander and Kristian Lindstrom and Christoffer Sundgren, won the men's 2011 World Junior Curling Championship by 6-5 in Sunday's tight, high-class final in Perth, Scotland, beating Switzerland's defending champions - skip Peter de Cruz; fourth player Benoit Schwarz; and front end Valentin Tanner and Roger Gulka.

Switzerland opened by stealing a single point in the first end, but there was never more than one point between the teams until the eighth end, when the Swedes scored the second of two single steals for a 6-4 lead. This proved to be the difference. When Switzerland could only respond with one point in the ninth end, and then dropped their first stone of the tenth end short of the hog-line, Eriksson had the simple task of keeping the last end clean until Switzerland ran out of stones.

Afterwards, a delighted Eriksson said, "It feels awesome, I am so relieved now to have the gold medal, finally."

"We didn't play so good at the start. Me and Kristian missed a couple of shots, we had some pressure on us. Christoffer and Alexander played much better in this game than they played in the 1v2 game. In the fifth end break we said that me and Kristian had to play much better, and we did."

He added, "The Swiss played really good in the start, then they started to struggle with their draws - like the draw in eight, it was supposed to be in the four foot but it was a steal for us."

For his part, a disappointed Swiss skip de Cruz was gracious. "We played well but we made a few little mistakes that cost us. They (Sweden) are a great team. They have dominated the junior scene for the last three or four years, so they deserve it I think."

He also had words of praise for his own team, "I'm absolutely proud of what my team has tried to do. In two appearances at the worlds, we've got one title and one chance to defend the title, unfortunately not winning."

This is the first Junior Men's gold for Sweden since 2004 when Niklas Edin won the gold. Eriksson skipped a different line up in 2008, losing the final to the USA's Chris Plys in Oestersund, Sweden.

Meanwhile, Norway's Steffen Mellemeseter and his team of Sander Rolvag, Magnus Nedregotten and Markus Snove Heiberg took bronze, beating Canada's Braeden Moskowy and his team of Kirk Muyres, Colton Flasch and Matt Lang by 10-2.

This was a bit of a run-away win for the Norwegians, with the writing on the wall from the start for Canada. Norway opened with a single and stole two in the second end when Moskowy's last stone was removed for a hog-line infringement. The Norwegians stole another in the third end and took three in the fifth end.

After this it was simply a case of playing the game out for a bitterly disappointed Canadian team, who brought on alternate Regis Neumeier in the eighth end before conceding.

After the game, which saw Norway take their first junior men's bronze since current Olympic silver medallist and European champion Thomas Ulsrud medalled in Fuessen, Germany 23 years ago, Norway's Mellemseter said, "We played pretty bad in the 3v4 game, so we were pretty motivated to do a good bronze medal game."

"We had a good start and kept going. I think we came out stronger because we had a longer time to re-motivate ourselves. It's only last night that they lost to Switzerland. I think we had a good chance from before the game. We were the best team on the ice right from the start."

Canadian skip Moskowy echoed Mellemseter's views. "We came out flat and they played well and there wasn't much we could do. It was a quick turn-around after last night's game and we just couldn't turn it on. We just came out deflated and didn't play well, and didn't play enough shots."

"This is pure disappointment and embarrassment, so it just doesn't feel good. I'm embarrassed... you come here expected to medal at least. It's different if you play your best and get beat, but there was more out there and we just didn't play our best so that's what's disappointing."

The World Junior Curling Championships 2012 will take place in Ostersund, Sweden from 3-11 March. Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Scotland, Finland and the Czech Republic have all qualified for next year's event. USA, China and Denmark face challenges and regional qualification events to make it to Sweden.

World Junior Curling Championships 2011 Mens Teams:

- Denmark
Team: Mads Norgaard (skip), Daniel Poulsen, Michael Hormark, Nikolaj Maegaard, Alexander Behrndtz
Coaches: Carsten Blom

- Canada
Team: Braeden Moskowy (skip), Kirk Muyres, Colton Flasch, Matt Lang, Regis Neumeier
Coach: Dwayne Mihalicz

- Norway
Team: Steffen Mellemseter (skip), Markus Snove Hoiberg, Magnus Nedregotten, Sander Rolvag, Eirik Mjoen
Coaches: Stig Hoiberg

- USA
Team: Aaron Wald (skip), Joshua Bahr, Jared Zezel, John Muller, John Landsteiner
Coach: Tim Muller

- Finland
Team: Iiro Sipola (skip), Oskar Ainola, Esko Sinisalo, Toni Ylhainen, Niklas Malmi
Coaches: Jani Sullanmaa

- Switzerland
Team: Benoit Schwarz, Peter de Cruz (skip), Roger Gulka, Valetin Tanner, Dominik Marki
Coaches: Pierre Baumgartner

- Sweden
Team: Kristian Lindstrom, Oskar Eriksson (skip), Henrik Leek, Alexander Lindstrom, Christoffer Sundgren
Coaches: Kenneth Lindstrom

- Scotland
Team: John Penny (skip), Colin Dick, Colin Howden, Billy Morton, Jay McWilliam
Coaches: Greig Henderson

- Czech Republic
Team: Lukas Klima (skip), Marek Cernovsky, Samuel Mokris, Karel Klima, Jakub Splavec
Coaches: Krystof Chaloupek

- China
Team: Jihui Huang (skip), Dexin Ba, Xiuyue Ma, Jinbo Wang, Rongrui Zhang
Coaches: Hongchen Li

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