Curling in Russia - World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2007

Norway won 2007 World Wheelchair Curling Championship

Norway's Rune Lorentsen led his team to the 2007 World Wheelchair Curling Championship in this multisport Swedish city, defeating Switzerland's Manfred Bolliger 5-4 in the final.

The Norwegians had earlier upset Canada's 2006 Paralympic champion team, skipped by Chris Daw, 8-7 in the semi-final. In the other semi, Switzerland dispatched another powerhouse team, two-time defending champions Scotland, now skipped by Michael McCreadie, by a 6-2 count.

Scotland then defeated Canada 7-4 in the bronze medal match.

Both Scotland and Canada had finished atop the round robin with 6-3 records. Norway and Switzerland were in a four-way tie for third place at 5-4, and each won tiebreakers to advance to the playoffs. Lorentsen beat Japan's Yoji Nakajima 9-4 while Bollinger edged James Pierce of the USA 5-4.

Canada's Daw separated his shoulder in the second end of his 10th draw match against the United States. He continued on, winning that game and the next two, before losing his two playoff matches.

Lorentsen's victory gave Norway 12 valuable points in the race for 2010 Paralympic Games qualification. Switzerland earned 10 points, Scotland took eight points and Canada logged seven points. Japan and the USA both earned 5.5 points.

Overall Standings:

(c) World Curling Federation (http://www.worldcurling.org)

About Russian National Curling team:

Russian National Curling Team take 8 place with 4 wins against: Canada, Sweden and Denmark (twice).
Denmark team our sportsmens defeat second time on tie-brake 7-2.

Russian National Wheelchair Curling Team:
Melnikov Nikolay (skip)
Smirnov Andrey (vice-skip)
Chepilko Valeriy (second)
Slesarenko Oksana (lead)
Ershov Victor (alternative)

Russian National Wheelchair Curling Team photo: