By Tom Degun

switzerland curling_team_27-03-12March 26 - Switzerland have claimed gold at the 2012 Women's World Curling Championship at the Enmax Centre in Alberta, Canada by defeating Sweden 7-6 in what turned out to be a nail-biting final.

Hosts Canada delighted the home crowd by winning the bronze medal match against Korea 9-6 but there was disappointment for Scotland, who entered the competition as favourites, after they finished in sixth place with six wins and five losses in the tournament.

But the event belonged to Switzerland after a thrilling final in front of a crowd of over 4,000 spectators saw the lead change hands six times before Switzerland's skip Mirjam Ott (pictured left) and her team emerged as 2012 world champions with the last shot of the match.

The drama reached a climax in the tenth end as Ott was faced with a precision hit and stay to score two for the title, which she made superbly to become only the third Swiss skip to win the world crown, and the first since 1983.

"It feels just great, really great, we're so emotional," said Ott, who celebrated her 200th international championship appearance during the event.

"We've worked so hard and I've been waiting a long time and we finally did it.

"I'm so happy for the team.

"It is really great to win in Canada – the crowd were cheering for us and for good shots.

"This means a lot back in Switzerland.

"Usually there is only interest in curling for the Olympic Games but this might make a difference.

Margaretha Sigfridsson_27-03-12
Swedish lead skip, Margaretha Sigfridsson (pictured centre) admitted that her side were disappointed despite taking silver.

"It was a really good game but we feel sad of course," she said.

"We needed to do a little bit more – what we had wasn't enough."

The result means that medallists Switzerland, Sweden and Canada have secure a huge haul of qualifying points for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and now look set to compete at the event.

By finishing in sixth, Scotland has also secured points for Sochi 2014, although the points are allocated to Great Britain due to the fact that Scotland does not compete as an individual nation at the Olympic Games.

switzerland curling_team_27-03-121
But although Scotland were disappointed with their performance, there was a boost for the team during the closing ceremony of the event when Scottish skip Eve Muirhead (pictured right with Claire McLaren, President of the Ladies Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club) was declared the winner of the World Curling Federation Frances Brodie Award.

The prize is voted by the players at the event to the curler who best exhibits sportsmanship and ability with the 21-year-old from Dunkeld picking up the huge majority of votes.

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