By Emily Goddard

Russia remain the only undefeated team after five sessions of play at the World Wheelchair Curling Championship ©WCF/Alina PavlyuchikRussia was the only undefeated team at the close of play on day three of the World Wheelchair Curling Championship in Lohja, Finland.

Their wins against Scotland and Sweden at the Kisakallio Sports Institute, and China's first defeat, means they are sitting comfortably in first place in the standings.

However, it was not all plain sailing for Russia as they battled in the morning game against Scotland, with the teams tied 2-2 at the fourth end break.

Russia then took their first advantage in the game as skip Andrey Smirnov added two points in the fifth end.

Scotland could then only take one point in the next end as Gregor Ewan was too heavy with his final draw with his last stone, before Smirnov then made a hit for two points in the seventh end to extend their lead before Scotland conceded in the eighth end for a 6-3 final score.

The afternoon session then saw Russia defeat Sweden 5-3 after seven ends of play for their fifth win from five games so far.

Meanwhile, China's 100 per cent record came to an end at the hands of the United States, who claimed a 6-3 win, but they did manage to get back to their winning ways to secure their fourth victory of the Championship so far by overcoming Slovakia 8-3.

The US scored two wins on day three of the World Wheelchair Curling Championship in Lohja ©WCF/Alina PavlyuchikThe US scored two wins on day three of the World Wheelchair Curling Championship in Lohja ©WCF/Alina Pavlyuchik


"Today we had two different games - this morning we felt nervous for some reason, throughout the whole team," China skip Haitao Wang said.

"After that game we had a discussion and all adjusted our mentality.

"After that we all felt much more relaxed this afternoon."

Slovakia picked up their first win of the Championship as they defeated Germany 11-3 after seven ends of play, as did Norway when they overcame Scotland 6-2, while hosts Finland secured a 7-5 win against Norway and a 7-1 victory over Germany.

Canada managed 6-4 win over Sweden, but their fortunes were reversed in the match against the US, who overcame their North American rivals to clinch a 9-8 win - their second of the day.

"You know, you get on a nice roll and you're feeling good and the next thing you know you make two little mistakes and boom, they're right back in it," US skip Patrick McDonald said.

"You make a couple more mistakes, boom, they go ahead.

"But we didn't give up, we played hard.

"This team is so focused.

"We didn't worry."

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