[ritchiebaby]

A total of 33 teams travel to Dumfries, Scotland for the World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event from Monday 5 to Saturday 10 January, when the top 4 teams will play in the the main event to take place in Geneva, Switzerland in April.

The teams will be split into five groups in which they will play a round robin. At the end of the round robin, the merged group ranking will be established and the 12 top teams from that ranking will advance to the playoffs. The top 4 teams in that ranking get a bye to the second qualification round while teams ranked 5–12 will play in the first qualification round. The winners of these games will advance to the second qualification round while the losers are eliminated. The second qualification round will decide which four teams qualify their Member Associations for the April Championships. Already qualified for April are Italy, Scotland, Australia, Estonia, United States, Canada, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Switzerland, Korea, Japan, Germany, Denmark and Czechia.

Qualification Round-Robin Games Draw
Group A: India, Ireland, Kenya, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Netherlands and Slovakia
Group B: Belgium, China, England, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland and Puerto Rico
Group C: Austria, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Hong Kong China, Jamaica, Thailand and Türkiye
Group D: Spain, France, Guyana, Nigeria, Philippines and Ukraine
Group E: Brazil, Hungary, Latvia, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia

Ireland's Double is Ailsa Barron and Kyle Paradis who play Kenya at 9am on Monday, with England represented by Rachael Hotchkiss and Fraser Clark who play Pakistan at 9am on Monday and then China later the same day at 7.30pm.

[ritchiebaby]

Ireland got off to a great start this morning with a 10-1 win over Kenya, not a surprising result to be honest. They play against Slovakia at 12.30pm tomorrow with their other game coming against Lithuania at 7.30pm.

England on the other hand couldn't have made a worst start with a defeat by 7-8 to Pakistan in a game in which they might have conjured a win, being 3-8 down with 2 ends to play. Their second defeat was more predictable, losing 3-9 against China, but once again they made life difficult for themselves, with losses of 3 shots in the first end and 4 shots in the seventh end. It's a long wait to 7.30pm for tomorrow's game against high-scoring Poland, which might have to be a must-win game, even this early in the tournament. Another loss would really put the pressure on.

[ritchiebaby]

England suffered another defeat by 2-9 against Poland after only 6 ends, a result which I feel must rule them out of any chance of progress later in the week. They do have an easier run of games to come, starting with Puerto Rico at 7.30pm tonight, followed by Belgium at 12.30pm tomorrow and Mexico at 6pm on Friday. Even 3 convincing wins would surely not be enough.

Ireland are faring much better with a victory over Slovakia by 6-4, but followed by a loss by 6-8 to Lithuania. Their win over India in a high-scoring game by 11-9 this morning kept them in second place in their Group. The two remaining games are against third-placed Luxembourg tomorrow at 12.30pm and first-placed Netherlands at 6pm on Friday. Surely a win in the first one would be enough to qualify, with the other game also winnable.

[ritchiebaby]

England managed to win the first of their remaining games by comfortably beating Puerto Rico 11-3 after 7 ends.

[ritchiebaby]

England are doing their best to keep in the tournament as long as possible by winning 8-4 against Belgium. Their very slim chances of survival comes down to their ability to beat Mexico in a must-win game tomorrow to finish third in their Group. Pakistan can also finish equal with both but England's better draw shot challenge should see them finish ahead. I still can't believe a 50% record will be good enough to beat the third placed teams in the other 4 Groups, but never say never.

Ireland are certain to qualify after their 11-6 win over Luxembourg, including a maximum 6 shots in the 2nd end. They are guaranteed to finish second in their Group behind unbeaten Netherlands.

[ritchiebaby]

Not only have Ireland qualified despite being thrashed by Netherlands 2-10, but so have England!!! They did the needful with a solid 8-4 victory, with 4 shots in the first end being decisive, over Mexico to finish 3rd in their Group as predicted. I have no idea how they managed to progress with a 50% record, but who cares?

Well, Slovakia probably do, as they had a 67% record finishing 3rd in Group A. Similarly Guyana and Slovenia both had a 60% record finishing 3rd in their respective Groups. Anyway it seems that the Draw Shot Challenge records of 3rd placed teams is ranked higher than the actual curling results. Never mind it's all done and dusted now.

The First Qualification Games are being played tomorrow at 10am and are Poland v Philippines, Latvia v Ireland, Austria v Jamaica, Chinese Taipei v England with the winners of each going through to the Second Qualification Games against Netherlands, Hungary, France and China respectively at 3pm.

Both Home Nations have a fair chance of getting a pass to the big games in April, so they may as well throw everything at it now.

[ritchiebaby]

Well, they both tried their best, but fell at the first hurdle. England lost the first 3 ends and that proved their downfall, eventually losing 5-7 to Chinese Taipei. Ireland had a tighter game against Latvia and the scores were tied at 5-5 going into the last end, but the Latvians scored a single shot in the last end to take the win.

In the final qualification games, Chinese Taipei (really Taiwan, but the name shall not be mentioned/looks nervously over shoulder) were beaten 5-7 by the mainland (China), France beat Austria by 9-4, Netherlands beat Poland 10-4 and Hungary, despite only scoring in 3 ends, beat Latvia 9-5. The teams in bold now go forward to the Championships in Geneva, starting on 25 April.

The next major event will be the Winter Olympic Games - https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-corti...tina-2026/ in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, which will start on 4 February. There might be a separate Olympic Thread but I will be posting something somewhere.