Erzuruma (Turkey), Oct. 7, LETA. The Latvian curling duo Daina Barone and Arnis Veidemanis finished the group tournament of the Beijing Olympic Games pre-qualification tournament with two victories in Turkey on Thursday, ensuring the decisive fight for a place in the qualification competition.
The Latvians defeated the Slovak representatives Daniel Matulov and Juraj Gallo 6: 3, securing the first place in Group A with four victories in four games.
Latvian curling players lost the first end with 0: 1, but in the next two they reached 3: 1. The Latvian duo also responded to the next Slovak point with three. In the seventh end, the opponents regained another point, but the outcome of the match was decided and the eighth end was not completed.
In the second fight with Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, the Latvian couple was awarded the victory.
In the first four ends, the teams took turns 2: 2. Then immediately managed to “steal” three points to Latvia – 5: 2. In the next end, Kyrgyzstan scored two points, but in the seventh end, Latvia scored two points again, reaching 7: 4.
The Kyrgyz team did not continue the fight, giving Latvia a victory in this game.
Latvia took first place in the group with five victories and on Friday, like Turkey and Denmark, will be waiting for its opponent in the final, which will be one of the three winners of the semi-finals.
Austria and Kazakhstan, Taiwan and Portugal, as well as Brazil and Belarus, will meet in the semi-finals.
It has already been reported that the team of “Jelgava Curling Club” Barone / Veidemanis beat Belarus with 13: 4, overcame Portugal with 8: 7 and defeated Lithuania with 7: 4.
Mixed pairs compete for three places in the Olympic qualifiers.
The mixed doubles tournament involves 16 countries divided into three subgroups – six in one group and two – in five teams. A round tournament will be played in groups. The top three from each group will enter the “play-off” round.
Group A brings together Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovakia. Group B is played by Brazil, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Slovenia and Turkey, while Group C is played by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Mexico and Taiwan.
The first place winner in each group will automatically enter the final battle for a place in the Olympic qualifying tournament. The second and third places will be determined by the other three finalists. The three winners of the finals will take part in the Olympic qualifying tournament for mixed couples, which will take place from 5 to 9 December in Leivarden, the Netherlands.
The competition for mixed couples will take place until October 8, but the pre-qualification tournament will end on October 15.
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