WORLD SENIOR CURLING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010 – FROM THE PLAYERS:

Saturday 24 April

Paul Pustovar, Team USA (Men) – Skip
USA wins gold in the World Senior Men’s Curling Championship 2010 after beating Canada 4-3 in a game that went to an extra end. It’s the second World Senior Men’s Championship title for the USA (last one won in 2002):
“I’m elated it’s a fantastic feeling – after all that practise and all that work that we’ve done in the last couple of years and actually all the practise in my entire life.”

“They didn’t want to put up any guards at all and we put ours in the house and normally the team with the hammer is going to put up a corner guard and get some play going. But they didn’t want to and kept hitting with us. We got the hammer finally in the fourth end and we had many rocks in play because we were trying to get our deuce. They were content to play it pretty wide open. In the extra end we were able to get the draw around the guards to the four foot. And that rock stayed there the whole end and we just kept guarding it. And they had two mistakes they had two of their own red rocks up front in that extra end, so that hurt them as they were guards for us actually.”

Colleen Pinkney, Team Canada (Women) – Skip
Canada wins gold in the World Senior Women’s Curling Championship 2010 after beating Switzerland 8-4 in an extra end. It’s Canada’s 7th World Championship title.
“We felt a little nervous, I don’t feel we curled our best game at all. I give the Swiss credit. They curled very well and put pressure on us all the time. They came out on fire and we did not and we were making a lot of half shots. I think we only felt confident when we forced them to take one in the eighth and went to an extra end.”

Bruce Delaney, Team Canada (Men) – Skip
Canada takes Silver after losing the final to USA.
“It was a very good game. If curling is a team sport and you have four players, if the four players aren’t playing their best then it’s very difficult to win. We got into to trouble in the seventh, eighth and ninth and unfortunately didn’t have any shots to bail us out.”

“We got the two early and everytime one of their players tried to throw it short they would throw it in the rings. So we just had to hit it. Unfortunately we weren’t able to keep the front clear in the eighth and ninth end and that’s what was our downfall.”

Ingrid Meldahl, Team Sweden (Women) – Skip
World Senior Women’s Bronze medal 2010 – after beating the USA 6-5:
“Today was the first really good game we played. We were totally focussed. We were good on the ice with good speeds. The USA played better than the other day when we met them.”

Betty Kozai, Team USA (Women) – Lead (called the game)
“We’re disappointed but we had a very good game. I suppose they are a very experienced team and that may have given them an edge. But it was down to the last rock and that’s the excitement of curling!”

Hugh Millikin, Team Australia (Men) – Skip
On winning the Bronze after beating Switzerland in an extra end 4-3:
“I’m speechless which is unusual for me! The Swiss played very very well and it came down to the wire. It’s the first medal for Australia in World Championship Curling!! Not bad – it took me twenty years – but it’s not bad!”

WORLD MIXED DOUBLES CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP 2010 – FROM THE PLAYERS:

Saturday 24 April

Irina Kolesnikova, Coach Team Russia (Yana Nekrasova and Petr Dron)
Speaking after Russia beat China 16-4 in the semi-final and winning the a place in the gold medal game – a first for Russia – in World Championship curling history:
“The Chinese team is persistent, stable and confident. This team will fight till the end. Yesterday they beat the Swiss, the world champions, in an extra end. It was a tough game for the Chinese which I think took its toll on their performance today. Our team played well. It wasn’t their best game, but we have found a style that is different from the other teams. But I will not reveal what it is!”

Scott Becker, Coach Team New Zealand – (Sean Becker and Bridget Becker)
Speaking after winning their semi-final game 10-3 against Spain and winning a place in the Gold medal game against Russia:
“This is very big for New Zealand curling. This is the highest place we’ve ever got in a World Curling Championships. One more game to go.”

“We played very well. Spain missed a couple of important shots which made things easier but overall we were playing to their strengths. The five points were karma for the fourth end when we missed all our shots. In the sixth end we made all our shots and put everything behind the two guards that were out front.”

“The final is going to be interesting. The crowd is definitely going to be against us. I would say it’s going to be a tough fight to win gold.”