2009
Losing Chile, Kenya and Taiwan but gaining India since last year we end up with 38 participants: ARG, AUS, AUT, BEL, BLR, CAN, CHN, CZE, DEN, ESP, EST, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, GRE, HUN, IND, IRE, ITA, JAP, KAZ, KOR, LAT, MEX, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, PRK, ROM, RUS, SVK, SWE, SWI, UKR, USA. Thus we need a preliminary round of 6 matches. The 2nd round participants from last year, POL, NOR, CZE, ITA, CAN, KAZ, CHN, NED, BLR, GBR, RUS, GER, KOR, USA, JAP and UKR, are exempt. The draw is: SWE-ARG, MGL-ESP, EST-BEL, IND-AUT, DEN-FRA, ROM-MEX. The results of the matches:
Sweden-Argentina 11-0
Mongolia-Spain 9-1
Estonia-Belgium 1-9
India-Austria 0-11
Denmark-France 5-6
Romania-Mexico 11-0
The first round proper then consists of: AUS, AUT, BEL, BLR, CAN, CHN, CZE, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, GRE, HUN, IRE, ITA, JAP, KAZ, KOR, LAT, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, PRK, ROM, RUS, SVK, SWE, SWI, UKR, USA. The quarter-finalists from last year, USA, BLR, CAN, NOR, JAP, ITA, GER and NED, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. Here is the draw: UKR-GBR, HUN-GER, SWI-LAT, GRE-KAZ, IRE-AUS, KOR-BEL, CAN-MGL, RUS-POL, USA-SVK, FRA-NED, FIN-CHN, ROM-NOR, BLR-POR, SWE-AUT, JAP-CZE, PRK-ITA. The matches:
Ukraine-Britain 5-5; distances: 10-7 — Britain win!
Hungary-Germany 0-11
Switzerland-Latvia 6-5, pretty close
Greece-Kazakhstan 0-11
Ireland-Australia 3-8, no doubt sharing a few pints after the match
South Korea-Belgium 9-2
Canada-Mongolia 11-0
Russia-Poland 9-2
USA-Slovakia 11-0
France-Netherlands 0-11
Finland-China 2-9
Romania-Norway 0-11
Belarus-New Zealand 7-3, 15 times in round 1 so far; maybe round 2 next year...
Sweden-Austria 9-2
Japan-Czech Republic 9-2, unlucky draw
North Korea-Italy 0-11
Then the second round consists of: AUS, BLR, CAN, CHN, GBR, GER, ITA, JAP, KAZ, KOR, NED, NOR, RUS, SWE, SWI, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, USA, CAN, JAP and NED, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: RUS-GER, GBR-JAP, USA-KOR, CAN-KAZ, SWE-SWI, BLR-NED, NOR-CHN, AUS-ITA. The matches proceed as follows:
Russia-Germany 3-8, unlucky draw
Britain-Japan 0-11
USA-South Korea 9-2, unlucky draw
Canada-Kazakhstan 10-1
Sweden-Switzerland 10-1
Belarus-Netherlands 0-11
Norway-China 8-3
Australia-Italy 0-11
The quarter-final consists of: CAN, GER, ITA, JAP, NED, NOR, SWE, USA. The finalists from last year, CAN and NED, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: USA-ITA, GER-JAP, CAN-NOR (oh no, not again!), NED-SWE. Results of the matches:
USA-Italy 9-2
Germany-Japan 7-4, quite a battle
Canada-Norway 8-3
Netherlands-Sweden 11-0
Semi-final draw: NED-USA, GER-CAN. Matches:
Netherlands-USA 8-3
Germany-Canada 7-4!, the loss of Dankers proving fatal
Bronze final: USA-Canada 6-5, close and exciting
FINAL: Netherlands-Germany
37,66- 37,39 (0-1) 1.14,50- 1.13,86 (0-2) 1.55,94- 1.55,59 (0-3) 4.01,75- 3.59,88 (0-4) 7.02,48- 6.49,92 (0-5) 34,82- 35,04 (1-5) 1.07,20- 1.08,34 (2-5) 1.43,49- 1.46,89 (3-5) 3.39,75- 3.41,49 (4-5) 6.06,64- 6.23,95 (5-5) 12.55,32-13.18,92 (6-5) we have a winner!
Final result 6-5, and congratulations to the winner — and to the other medallists!
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x RUS GOLD 36x NED GOLD 18x FIN GOLD 4x JAP GOLD 3x CAN GOLD 3x SWE GOLD 2x GDR GOLD 2x GER GOLD 2x USA GOLD 2005 AUT Silver 5x HUN Silver 2x CZE Silver 1955 CHN Silver 1965 ITA Silver 2006 LAT bronze 1940 GBR bronze 1949 PRK bronze 1963 SWI 4th 4x POL 4th 3x FRA 4th 2x KOR 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 BEL 4th 1946 KAZ 4th 1994 EST QF 5x ROM QF 2x UKR QF 2x LIT QF 1927 AUS QF 1974 BLR QF 2008 MGL 2R 3x POR 2R 2x IRE 2R 2005 COL 2R 2007 NZL 1R 15x ARG 1R 6x YUG 1R 5x MEX 1R 5x GRE 1R 4x ESP 1R 3x SVK 1R 3x BOS 1R 2x IND 1R 2x ISV 1R 1972 IRN 1R 1993 PAN 1R 1995 RSA 1R 1998 HKG 1R 2003 SER 1R 2004 TPE 1R 2006 CHI 1R 2008 ISR PR 5x ICE PR 2x KEN PR 2x