'Still work to do,' says Scotland's Bruce Mouat at World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship after Olympic qualification
BySportsbeat
Updated 21/05/2021 at 18:03 GMT
A 9-1 win over Korea in their penultimate round-robin clash earned Scotland top spot in Group A at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, securing a semi-final berth and a quota place for next year's Olympic Winter Games. "You always have the feeling you're here to qualify Team GB for the Olympics so that's job one done," Mouat said
Bruce Mouat (British Curling)
Image credit: Eurosport
Bruce Mouat insisted he and Jen Dodds were only halfway towards completing their mission at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, after the Scottish duo's progression into the play-offs earned Team GB a quota place at next year's Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
An emphatic 9-1 win over Korea sealed top spot in Group A at the tournament in Aberdeen, and an automatic route into the semi-finals with one match to spare.
Scotland were on top from the start in their penultimate round-robin clash having established a 7-0 lead after three ends, and though Korean pair Kim Ji-yoon and Moon Si-woo hit back in the fourth they were powerless to prevent a heavy defeat.
Having narrowly missed out on a mixed doubles spot at Pyeongchang 2018, Scotland's seventh victory from eight on home soil ensured GB will compete in the event for the first time in China next year.
But with the world title now in touching distance, Mouat is determined to add to Olympic qualification in the perfect manner.
He said: "You always have the feeling you're here to qualify Team GB for the Olympics so that's job one done.
"We are really excited, but now it's onto the second job at the competition. We are here to win a World Championship."
Having recovered from a 7-6 defeat at the hands of Russia with wins over Czech Republic, Germany, Canada and now Korea, Dodds is confident she and Mouat can use their gathered momentum to clinch global glory.
She said: "After the good win against Canada we knew we'd need to bring that same level of performance into the game against Korea. We need to keep that up going into the play-offs now."
Elsewhere in Group A, Canada and Italy joined Scotland in progressing and earning their national committees a place in Beijing, with wins over Czech Republic 7-6 and Russia 8-5 respectively.
While both nations will go into Saturday's qualification play-off games, Germany kept their hopes of a place in the Olympic qualification game alive with a 10-4 win over Australia, and Hungary beat winless Spain 8-4.
In the opening session of the fifth day of competition Norway and Switzerland secured their Olympic quota spots and play-off places.
Norwegian duo Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten narrowly beat United States 8-7, while Swiss pair Jenny Perret and Martin Rios overcame Estonia 8-5.
Defending champions Sweden made it eight wins from eight with an 8-1 triumph over New Zealand, and they join Scotland in the semi-finals as Group B winners.
Meanwhile China beat Finland 10-8 and England's Anna Fowler played a hit and stay with the last stone to clinch a 7-6 win over Japan.
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