MOOSE JAW -- For a team without a win at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship, Team Japan has sure made things difficult for their opponents.
That was once again the case for Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi and his crew against Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller during Draw 6 at Temple Gardens Centre in Moose Jaw, as the teams found themselves tied 4-4 heading into the final three ends.
Schwaller, third Benoit Schwarz-Van Berkel, second Sven Michel and lead Pablo Lachat-Couchepin took over from there, though, putting up three in the eighth end to take control of the game, and after holding Japan to one in the ninth, took one in the 10th to secure an 8-5 victory.
Switzerland improved to 3-1 and joined leaders Canada, China and Scotland with three wins apiece, with the latter three teams all undefeated heading into Draw 7.
Japan has faced a murderer’s row in their first four games, but have given their opponents plenty to think about in each game. Yamaguchi, third Riku Yanagisawa, second Takeru Yamamoto and lead Satoshi Koizumi lost their opener 7-3 to Canada’s Brad Gushue, dropped their second contest 9-6 to Scotland’s David Mouat and fell 10-5 to Sweden’s Niklas Edin in their previous outing.
Japan’s draw gets easier from here, with a win in the near future not out of the question,
Other games from Draw 6 on Monday morning saw Italy’s Joel Retornaz build a 6-2 lead through four ends before taking a 7-5 win over Czechia’s Lukas Klima, while Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz defeated Austria’s Mathias Genner 9-3 in six ends.
Standings after six draw are as follows:
Canada (Jacobs) 3-0
China (Xu) 3-0
Scotland (Mouat) 3-0
Switzerland (Schwaller) 3-1
Norway (Ramsfjell) 2-1
Sweden (Edin) 2-1
United States (Dropkin) 2-1
Czechia (Klima) 2-2
Italy (Retornaz) 2-2
Germany (Muskatewitz) 1-3
Austria (Genner) 0-4
Japan (Yamaguchi) 0-4
Korea (Kim) 0-4
Be sure to keep an eye on for up to the minute draw scores and results from throughout the World Men’s Curling Championship.
