Programs
Competitions
Venues
Access
A la carte
Photo Album
From the Olympics Toword Tomorrow
 |
U.S. beats world champ Sweden in men's curling
(Kazakoshi Park Arena, Karuizawa Town)
14:00
GBR 3-6 USA
JPN 7-5 GER
SWE 2-8 SUI
NOR 10-8 CAN
Women Preliminary Round
(Kazakoshi Park Arena, Karuizawa Town)
9:00
USA 10-2 JPN
DEN 8-3 NOR
GBR 5-8 SWE
CAN 8-5 GER
Men Tie Breaks
(Kazakoshi Park Arena, Karuizawa Town)
19:00
USA 5-2 SWE
U.S. beats world champ Sweden in men's curling
The U.S. men upset defending world champion Sweden 5-2 in a tie-breaker Friday and will face Japan Saturday for a berth in the semifinals of the curling competition at the Nagano Olympic Winter Games.
The U.S. curlers took over the match at Kazakoshi Park Arena in the fourth end when it scored three points and then went on to forge a 5-1 lead going into the final end.
''We made a lot of good shots today and we all played well together. We scored three in the fourth end and then we took control of the game,'' U.S. third Mike Peplinski said.
''Like with Sweden, we lost to Japan in the round robin. So, we hope for a bit of revenge in the same way we did against Sweden,'' Peplinski said of the tie-breaker match with Japan for a berth in the semifinals against top-seeded Canada.
Japan, earlier, held onto a chance to make the tie-breaker round by defeating Germany 7-5 in the final game of the round robin competition.
Japan, Sweden and the United States all finished the round robin with three wins and four losses and tied for fourth place in the eight-team competition.
Since the host team had beaten both Sweden and the U.S. in the earlier rounds, it received a bye to Saturday's tie-breaker.
In the final game of the round robin, the Japanese squandered a 4-2 lead and found themselves tied before the last stone. Japanese skip Makoto Tsuruga hit an open shot to win the game.
Switzerland also beat Sweden 8-2 to secure third-place in the round robin and a berth in the semifinals, while Norway upended Canada 10-8 with replacement skip Jan Thoresen. (Kyodo News)
Canada tops women's curling prelims, Japan out
Two-time world champion Canada struggled 8-5 past lowly Germany on Friday to finish the Olympic women's curling preliminaries on top of the eight-nation field in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture.
Canada rallied for three points in the ninth end to break a 5-5 tie and saved victory against the bottom-place Germany, which ended with only one win in the round-robin competition at the Kazakoshi Park Arena.
Sweden, meanwhile, defeated Britain 8-5 in a seesaw game that came down to the ninth end in which the Scandinavian squad built up a big house and scored four for the win.
Canada and Sweden both notched six wins against one loss in the preliminary round but the team from North America had the edge as it had beaten Sweden 7-5 in a head-to-head meeting Thursday.
World bronze medalist Denmark finished third with a 5-2 record, followed by Britain at 4-3.
Host Japan, fourth place at last April's world championships in Switzerland, succumbed 10-2 to the United States and failed to make the medal rounds play as it finished fifth in the group with two wins and five losses, along with Norway and the Americans.
Canada meets Britain and Sweden takes on Denmark in the semifinals Saturday. (Kyodo News)
No part of the article, photographs, or illustrations presented here may be printed or used without permission.
Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun