ALMATY – Russia and Switzerland women were the two unbeaten teams on day one (Monday 30 January) at the Winter Universiade Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Russia – lead by Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2016 gold medal winning skip, Victoria Moiseeva – won their first two games against Great Britain 7-3 and Norway 9-3.
Russian Skip Victoria Moiseeva
Similarly, Switzerland’s women’s team – who include vice-skip Briar Huerlimann, daughter of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games gold medallist Patrick Huerlimann – defeated Sweden 7-6 and Korea 8-7.
On the men’s, Great Britain defeated Russia 9-5, lead by current World Junior Curling champion Bruce Mouat and his team. Meanwhile, 2015 WUG gold medal winning skip Steffen Walstad lost out to Koshuke Hirata’s Japan team 7-6, in their opening game.
Team Sweden
The biggest win on the women’s side on Monday was Germany’s 13-2 win over hosts Kazakhstan. On the men’s side Sweden opened with an 11-2 victory over Czech Republic.
Sweden, Great Britain, Germany, Canada and China women all recorded one win and one loss on Monday. While for the men there were also wins for Korea and Canada.
C. MacAllister, WCF Communications & Media Relations Manager