It is doubtful whether anyone will be able to stop Scotland in this mood. Warwick Smith in particular remains unbeaten in the men’s World Curling Championships. A well constructed team is riding victory over all other competitors. It seems that Scotland will own the Cortina d’Apezzo game series if they continue to fight and match like in the past. If they manage to win the whole thing, it will definitely act as a morale booster and a spring board for other notable victories in due course. This is no one hit victory because the Scottish side has been able to sustain victories over extended periods of time.
One might wonder about the impetus for such victories but Scotland have built a reputation for tenacity and the ability to win again and again even when the conditions are changing or when their opponents change their tactics in order to put them off their game. It is the mark of their championship qualities that they have reached this stage in their interesting career. One can only expect that their future will be similarly glorious in the sport of Curling.
Smith and Kevin Koe have managed to win all their group encounters and it seems that they might turn out to be the favorites. Kelvin seems to be representing Canada very well and might yet prove to be a formidable opponent in the closing moments of the game. The Scottish side had better keep a close eye on his development because it might turn out to be a cautionary tale of persistence and the underdog. The Scottish champion gave a statement of intent with an eight points by four score over Sweden. They then defeated France with an eight to six win including a rare five point score at the seventh end.
From a low key beginning the Scottish side has built up a reputation that is backed by their impressive results. It is only a matter of time before they are fully dominating the league and making it very difficult for competitors to get a look in. Congratulations to the Scots and hopefully they will give us even more entertainment in the future.

Hanover has to think of a quick strategy or else their problems will continue to grow with the season. On this occasion, the visitors had only had a double win after about eighteen league games. They had some trouble in the first half because they had to contend with only ten men when Jiri Stajner got himself sent off with a double booking with seven minutes. For the fans this must have been very frustrating because nobody wants to have their star player on the bench because he just cannot control himself on the pitch. We certainly expect a bit more from our players no matter the provocation. To make a mistake once is an error but to make another one within the next seven minutes is somewhat a bit of carelessness. Who knows what the score might have been if the player had not been unceremoniously sent off the pitch.
With these results Hanover is still seventeenth in the league. This might not sound so bad unless you are aware that the full league is just eighteen teams. This means that they re effectively amongst the worst performers in that set. Judging from their recent maneuvers it does not bode well for the prospect that they might rise up higher in the rankings. The jump in rankings from the lowly 17 to the top five will be very difficult and will require an extra ordinary input from the players themselves. I am sure that the morale must be low as well because the results so far do not indicate a good mix of wins. It is mostly losses and those can have a devastating effect on the confidence of the team in general.
The statistics are truly appalling for Hanover. They have just scored twenty four points from their twenty nine games so far. They are in fact just one point of Freiburg. Where they to reach and exceed that point, relegation would be a distinct possibility. Perhaps Freiburg will help them out a bit with their draw against Bochum. Hertha Berlin is just at the end of a very long tether.

Yani Tseng is continuing her mastery of the majors. The Taiwanese national has been doing the major circuit for some time now and is making headway against stiff competition. She was tested by Norway’s Suzann Pettersen but held firm to win by just one shot. This is her second major title within the Kraft Nabisco Championship set. An earthquake that threatened to disrupt proceedings did not seem to put off Yani Tseng in her quest for the title.
She closed with a 4 under the sixty eight. The final total was a thirteen number under two hundred and seventy five. Suzann Pettersen must have been disappointed to be so near yet so far from the coveted major championship that marks a great career in the sport. However I am sure that her time will eventually come. In this match she really did test the tenacious Yani Tseng.
Perhaps it was fitting that the six point nine earthquakes came to be announced during the press conferences. It would have been very disturbing for the players to have to contest such a close game in the midst of all the chaos that comes with a powerful earthquake. Southern California had been rocked with the Baja turmoil but it did not faze Tseng. Her response to the intermittent questions on the tremor was that she was used to it since Taiwan experienced them on a regular basis.
The final round opened with Tseng at a tie with her opponent but she edged ahead with an eagle and a birdie. All she had to do was then sit on the side and see whether Pettersen could derail her project. Indeed it seemed that this would be the case because her opponent seemed to be focused on winning the match. She then had a bit of bad luck and missed a closing hole. This left the gap the Tseng was looking for. She admitted that she was very nervous during that period of play but in the end she came through and can rightly celebrated her win on the major circuit.

Everton has a great record at Goodison Park but it seemed that West Ham was not prepared to let things continue as they had been in the recent past. Gianfranco Zola managed to temporarily forget his many woes when he got a point with a two goal to two goal draw. Had Everton won the game, this would have been their eight consecutive league game win at their home ground. This is not a record to be scoffed at and I know of many sides who would absolutely covet such a title. This means that the Hammers are now one point ahead of Hull City. The relegation fight is still on and it promises to be a very fruity affair with plenty of twists.
The scores in the game were opened by Diniyar Bilyaletdinov in minute number twenty four. This was a result of a close range header shot. Mido then failed to equalize when everything had be set for him. The penalty was shocking in its poor quality and he will certainly have to do much better next time. This marked the low point in the first half when such an obvious opportunity simply went begging. Manuel da Costa managed to the get the visiting team on equal footing at minute sixty of the match. This was after some great fight at the goal post which ended in a clever shot by half.
Louis Saha was not to have a penalty and this left the hosts thinking that the gods were against them on this day. Notwithstanding Yakubu restored a lead in minute number eighty five, once again using a formidable header shot. However this was not to be the end of things because the Ilan belied his substitute status by equalizing just two minutes after that goal. It is clear that it was not a straightforward game and each side had to give it some work before they earned the point. It seemed that Everton was simply unable to maintain leads when it got them but at the same time credit must be given to the Hammers for refusing to back down.