(Dec 18, 2008) -- Team World leads Team North America 36-18
CAMROSE, Canada -- Defending world champion Kevin Martin of Canada demolished China's Fengchun Wang 10-1 and led a partial rebound for Team North America on a tough first day at the 2008 Continental Cup.
Martin scored two in the first, two in the second and three in the fourth for a 7-1 lead at the break and scored the first win for North America after four losses and two ties.
"That was a strong effort from the old Martino rink tonight," offered Martin lead Ben Hebert.
And it was.
"That was a good game," said Martin.
"The ice is fantastic. It's curling five feet. The more curl the better. The only thing that could be better is if it curled more."
Martin's men clocked a scintillating 89 in shooting percentage compared to only 68 per cent for the Chinese. Martin himself shot 95 per cent to Wang's 43.
"We were making everything," said Martin.
"We were getting not just the freezes but the angles on the freezes.
"We won the battle of the freezes."
Meanwhile, Craig Brown of the United States won a key 6-3 match against the favoured three-time European and former world champion David Murdoch of Scotland. Brown, the 2008 U.S. champion, scored his six points over four ends in the middle of the match to earn the win.
In the final men's match of the day North America's Kevin Koe fell behind Norway's Thomas Ulsrud 4-1 and eventually lost 6-4.
Team World leads Team North America 36-18 with three days left in this four-day, total-points team competition patterned on golf's Ryder Cup.
Earlier, world women's champion Jennifer Jones scored two ties - one in women?s play and the other in mixed doubles - to score North America's sole points over draws one and two.
Friday morning's women?s matches (10:30am ET on TSN) feature two world championship grudge matches. China's Bingyu Wang and Canada's Jones lock horns in a rematch of the 2008 Ford Worlds final while Sweden's Anette Norberg tussels with American Debbie McCormick in a rematch of their 2006 Ford Worlds finale.
In afternoon Mixed Doubles play (3:00pm ET on TSN) Murdoch pairs with Swiss third Carmen Schaefer to oppose McCormick and fellow American Rich Ruhonen; Canada's Carter Rycroft (Edmonton) and Stefanie Lawton (Saskatoon) challenge China's Fengchun Wang and Yin Liu; and China's Bingyu Wang and Rui Liu take on Canada's John Morris and Marliese Krasner.
Men?s evening team action (10:00pm ET on TSN) will conclude day two with Koe versus Murdoch, Ulsrud versus Martin and Brown versus Fengchun Wang. |
