All the very best to all my readers for 2013 - having finished 2012 in Sweden I am now in Prague for the European Junior Challenge (EJCC), the top nation from which will join the rest of the World in Sochi in March for the World Juniors.Those who are interested in the detailed fortunes of the England teams can check that on my English Curling blog here, but I will try to be less parochial on this blog.
BOYS - There are 13 boys teams entered this year from Austria, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Turkey and they are divided into 2 groups - 1 of 6 and 1 of 7. After a round robin, there will be semi finals and a final with only the winners qualifying for the World Juniors. Italy won this challenge last year and are here again having come straight back down after finishing 9th with one win in the Worlds at Ostersund last year. Finland who finished 10th in the Worlds have not entered the EJCC this year. Although 2 teams were relegated only one will get promoted as Russia, as the host nation, have a guaranteed entry in Sochi and so are automatically 'promoted' from the EJCC level where they played last year.
Turkey are the newcomers this year, while Slovenia return for a second time and England for a third time. The EJCC has been a home from home for France and Poland since it started in 2005 with neither country having made it to the Worlds. One of the most consistent performers since 2006 has been Estonia who have on at least two occasions been just one win away from getting to the Worlds and their skip Harri Lill returns for his 7th (and last) appearance. In contrast the lead in his team has been playing for just 2 months!!
Of the teams that are here, Denmark (1), Germany (1) and Italy (2) are those who have qualified previously from the EJCC (which replaced the World Junior B Championship in 2005) and intriguingly all are in the same section and all are in contention as the round robin draws to a close. Denmark are undefeated and will qualify at the top and as I write this they have just beaten Germany leaving the Germans on 3 wins and 3 losses and out of the competition as Turkey and Italy, who are both on 3 wins have to play each other later today.
In the other section it is Austria who are leading the way, undefeated after 4 games and sure of at least a tie breaker. Estonia and the Netherlands are the other two teams in contention. Things may change before this paragraph is finished however as the Dutch are currently peels with England and if they lose that game Austria will be guaranteed a semi-final place and the Dutch will have to depend on Austria beating Estonia to get into a tie breaker with Estonia. Phew - lots of nervous energy here with players and coaches alike going through the full gamut of emotions. And the Dutch have just won and now they on 4 wins and finished their programme. So if Estonia beat Austria then there will be 3 teams on 4 wins and a tie breaker will be required.
This is a competition where there will only be one round of tie breakers and so a team could go out of the competition without losing a tie breaker. This first happened at the World Seniors in Denmark in April when Japan were the losers. Here it would happen if 3 teams tied for second place in a section and could not be separated on their round robin results between them - i.e if A beat B beat C beat A - as only one tie breaker will be played between the top 2 ranked teams, based on Draw Shot Challenge.
GIRLS - There are 12 teams entered in the EJCC, a rise of 3 since last year and only the second time that the numbers have been above 10 since 2005 and 2 sections have been required. The teams playing are from Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. Italy won last year with an undefeated 9-0 record but came straight back down in Ostersund last year. Only one team was relegated as Russia, as hosts, are already in the WJCC, having finished 3rd last year.
Germany and Poland have been ever present in the EJCC since 2005 although Germany has qualified twice from it but been relegated straight back down again. Of the teams that have previously qualified from the EJCC only Italy and Germany are here this week and, as with the boys, they are both in the same section.
TO BE CONTINUED
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