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U.S. Wheelchair Curling Team Wins First-Ever Medal at 2008 World Championship
Four-point fifth end seals bronze medal win over Canada
By Terry Kolesar
// USA Curling
// February 9, 2008
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James Joseph and his teammates became the first U.S. Wheelchair Curling Team to win a medal at a World Championship with a big win over Canada.
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SURSEE, Switzerland - Skip Augusto Perez (East Syracuse, N.Y.) led Team USA to its first-ever medal by defeating Canada, 8-1, Saturday morning to capture the bronze at the 2008 World Wheelchair Curling Championship.
Perez and teammates James Pierce (North Syracuse, N.Y.), James Joseph (New Hartford, N.Y) and Jacqueline Kapinowski (Point Pleasant, N.J.) took the lead in the third end with a deuce and didn't let up after that.
A steal of two in the fourth end was bolstered by a huge fifth end for the Americans. Canada's skip, Darryl Neighbour, converted a tap-and-roll behind cover with his first stone, only to have Perez make an angle-runback to lie four. Neighbour tried to draw in for one point but missed and the U.S. stole four points to seal the win.
This is the first medal for the U.S. at either a world championship or Paralympic event. Their best finish prior to that was fifth.
In the gold-medal match Norway's Rune Lorensten team defended their title with a 5-3 win over Korea's Hak Sung Kim in an extra end. Korea stole a single in the sixth end to extend the game but the experienced Norwegians scored a deuce for the win.
The 2009 World Wheelchair Curling Championship will take place in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the site of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Line scores:
Bronze-medal game:
Canada* 010 00X 1
USA 002 24X 8
Gold-medal game:
Korea* 001 011 0 3
Norway 020 100 2 5
*last stone in first end
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