Estonia's mixed curling pair lose to Australia in world champs

Estonian mixed curling duo Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill lost 6–8 to a strong Australian pair at the ongoing WMDSCC World Championships in Geneva on Monday, after beating Norway earlier in the day.
Kaldvee and Lill, who represented Estonia at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in February, lost the opening match of the World Championships to Japan, but bounced back at the weekend to beat both Sweden and New Zealand. In the latter match, the pair did well to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win 8-4.
"We can still get better. The first two games were like a warm-up, and the opening match didn't feel good in terms of the score. But it doesn't matter how you lose. If you lose, you lose and move on — you have to play the next game better. Right now, we've improved with every match, and if that continues, we can beat anyone," Lill said ahead of Monday's matches.
The 2-1 win-loss ratio placed the Estonians fourth in Group A, behind Norway and Australia, both undefeated at that time, and behind Japan.
On Monday, Norway, a country which famously took a massive medals haul at the Milano Cortina Games, scored one point in the opening end, and the Estonian pair responded with two in the second, but by the end of the third end, the Norwegians had taken a 3–2 lead. In the fourth end, however, the Estonians performed strongly, with Kaldvee scoring four points with the last stone to turn things around to give Estonia a 6–3 lead.
Norway managed to level the score over the next three ends, and the decisive end began at 6–6. With Estonia's third throw, Lill set up a situation where only Estonia's red stone remained in the house. Norway then placed a stone on the edge of the house, only for Lill to knock it away with the next shot.
Norway's final shot was accurate, placing their stone directly in front of Estonia's, but Kaldvee kept her composure and delivered on the decisive throw to seal a 7–6 victory for Estonia. "These are the moments I live for! There's a lot of pressure, but every athlete wants to be in this situation," she said post-match.
This was Estonia's third victory in a row as they headed into the Australia match – the Aussies, Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt, are currently ranked number one in the world in the mixed event – Monday evening.
After an evenly matched start, the fifth end proved decisive, as Australia managed to score as many as four points to take a 7–3 lead. Estonia then used a power play, but it yielded only a single point.
Before the final end, Estonia trailed 8–4, and although the situation was not entirely hopeless with the last-stone advantage, Australia secured the win with their penultimate stone, leaving the Estonians unable to score more than three points.
Estonia now has three wins and two losses, and next faces China today, Tuesday.
Gill and Hewitt continue the tournament with a perfect record of five wins, taking another step toward direct qualification for the semifinals from the group.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte









