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The men and women played two games today.

photo - determined Czech women's team

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This afternoon the women lost to Scotland and the men beat Spain. But that was just a prelude to the afternoon's drama. First, from four o'clock, the world champion team from Switzerland (Feltcher) took on our women. The development was not very favourable and the skip of the opponent warded off some Czech threats with good runbacks or good draws. The turning point came in the second half, when six points in a row were scored and the girls went into the ninth end three up with no advantage. The Swiss gave a deuce, but then stole another one after, narrowly, a missed double take out. The extra end was nerve-wracking, a bit uncharacteristically played, but Anna was left with a hit with a small roll to win it in the end and Anna hit it perfectly. The win is great. The Czech Republic will be in the world again and the girls are in a good position to be the first Czech women's team to qualify for the European Championship playoffs. Tomorrow the Norwegians are still waiting. We have had the French since 8pm, for example, who only lost a winnable game against Israel on time. It's a young team, with the son of Jan Ducroz, a former successful French national player and our friend, playing at the three. The opponent presented itself with a decent game and a well mastered technique. Tactically, it's not quite there yet, but the French have a good foundation. The score looks overwhelming, 13 to 3, but we scored a six in the last end when the opponent was desperate to get back into the match. So after the Slovakian win over the Turks, we're first in the group and we'll face the semi-finals tomorrow night.