Batoyun Uranchimeg and Dave Samsa look on while competing in the wheelchair curling round robin match against China during the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on March 8, 2022 in Beijing.
BEIJING — With a 2-4 record, the U.S. wheelchair curling team is hoping to stay alive for the playoff rounds at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Following a 10-2 loss to the host nation on Tuesday, Team USA now sits in a three-way tie for eighth place in the standings with four round robin matches left on its schedule. The top four teams will advance to the semifinals.
After dropping its first two contests at the National Aquatics Centre in Beijing, the Americans bounced back to win two of their next three, defeating Estonia and Norway, before falling to Canada.
Another loss to China late this evening in Beijing puts the U.S. in a must-win situation from here on out. The U.S. struggled early against China, as the reigning Paralympic and world champions took a quick 5-0 lead on their home ice after the second end. The Americans took a point in the third to get themselves on the board, but China answered with another three in the fourth end and two in the fifth end.
The team is hoping to quickly erase their recent losses and move on to the next set of matches.
“We are like goldfish. You miss something, you have a short memory, you go on,” said the team’s second, David Samsa, the 56-year-old from Green Bay. “We have a very good dynamic. We all get along very well, and we can talk about anything that happens on the ice that upsets me or anybody. We are very open. We talk and get over it.”
