(by Jean Mills) It was another successful day for Canadian men’s and women’s senior teams, both of whom remain undefeated after four days of competition at the World Senior Curling Championships taking place at the Ice Bowl in Dumfries, Scotland.
Colleen Pinkney (Photo WCF/Richard Gray)
Colleen Pinkney, of Truro, N.S., is now tied with Switzerland’s Susan Limena 4-0 at the top of the women’s B Group after scoring two decisive wins on Sunday.
Against Finland’s Kirsti Kauste, Pinkney, with her team of third Wendy Currie, second Shelley MacNutt, lead Susan Creelman, alternate Judy Burgess and coach Bill Tschirhart, opened the scoring by stealing four points in the first end, and followed that with stolen deuces in the fourth and fifth on the way to a 9-3 victory.
The Canadian women continued their winning streak against Australia’s Sandy Gagnon in the evening game. A series of deuces gave Canada a 6-0 lead after three ends. Gagnon managed to score with hammer, but Pinkney kept the pressure on with triples in the fifth and seventh ends on the way to a 12-3 win.
On the men’s side, Wayne Tallon and his Fredericton, N.B., team of third Mike Kennedy, second Mike Flannery, lead Wade Blanchard, alternate Charles Kingston and coach Bill Tschirhart won a close contest over Australia’s Hugh Millikin, 4-2. With the win, Tallon takes sole possession of first place in the men’s A Group with a 6-0 record.
Both Canadian men’s and women’s teams will play only one game on Monday. Tallon will face Japan’s Masayasu Sato (1-4) and Pinkney will take on Switzerland’s Limena (4-0).
The round-robin draws for the World Seniors will run through to April 29 before the playoffs get underway. There are 25 senior men’s teams, split into three pools (one nine-team pool, two eight-team pools); 15 senior women’s teams, split into two pools (one eight-team pool, one seven-team pool).
On April 30, the senior men’s and women’s gold-medal and bronze-medal games are scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Atlanticc.
For live scores and standings from the World Seniors Championship, go to: wscc2014.curlingevents.com/.