Day Š. Sweden and then Switzerland.
photo - Jennie, Maria, Karel and Ežen before the match Czech Republic - Sweden
rnAgain an early morning doubleheader. We arrive at the arena past wide open toilets, apparently a local habit that causes a permanent toilet stench throughout the grounds. In the players lounge, a Chinese woman sits on the lap of one of the local Chinese volunteers. She's staring at the phones, another typical feature of the local population. Five out of ten people you meet on the street you have to walk around because they can't see you due to the consternation of their smart phone screen. But we're here for the curling, and the world's best teams await us. The Swedes (Hasselborg) are the European runners-up, here augmented by my favourite player Jennie Wahlin at number five. The Swiss (Paetz) are world champions and one of the best teams on the circuit. First up were the Swedes. We entered the match with them without an advantage, but also without respect. However, in the second end we cashed in a three which took us a bit by surprise and caught us off guard. However, we forced Hasselborg into an error with a great strategic game in the following end, and we returned the three to the North Koreans. The pity was the stolen one in the fifth end, where our opponent rebounded by two stones. It was not easy to play against the Swedes. Mabergs, for example, played at 93% and skip at 88%. Even so, we kept in contact, but in the eighth we got a three again, and then after applying the all-or-nothing system we gave up after the opponent's deuce. The Swedes were better and deserved the win. From two on, we had the Swiss. Despite a very good LSD, we again had no advantage and in the second end we again faced a three played by our opponent. However, after some brilliant stones from Anna we defended and even registered a one. But then the three came anyway, followed by our one, so the start was rather Swiss. In the fifth end we managed a great set up and after an error by Alina, Anna played a fabulous draw, after which our opponent's skip had to play a difficult triple attempt which she narrowly missed and we went up by two. A tug of war ensued for deuces. In the ninth end, after a time-out, we played a wild game which resulted in a hit by Anna on four, which eventually meant our three and a lead of three going into the last. A flawless defensive game completed one of the biggest surprises of this championship, the Czechs' win. We are happy, but the mission is not over, we still have four more games and there is room to win in each one.