The German wheelchair curlers are heading for the semi-finals at the Paralympics in Pyeongchang. The team around Skip Christiane Putzich (feet), who likes to call himself a “miracle bag”, also won on Monday against Slovakia and host South Korea with 7:6 and 4:3 respectively.
After five games in the preliminary round, Bernd Weißer’s five-man team has already won four victories and occupies a remarkable fourth place in the field of 12 players. On Wednesday, the Germans will take second place against the ninth-placed Norwegians and Sweden against taillight.
At the start, the team of the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) surprisingly won 9:4 against the Neutral Athletes from Russia. There was also a 6:4 against the USA. Only against China, the only team still undefeated, was there had been a damper on the 3:7.
“With a good start, a midfield position is realistic. The big target would be the semi-final, anything else would be a bonus. But we don’t call ourselves a bag of wonders for nothing,”Putzich had already said before the start.
At last year’s World Cup in Pyeongchang, Germany’s ninth place had only escaped relegation by increasing the number of A-groups from ten to twelve. At the so far only Paralympics 2010 in Vancouver, the German wheelchair curlers had clearly missed the semi-finals.