Butterfield and Kean sweep world champions aside in dominant display

Jo Butterfield and Jason Kean swept world champions Japan aside as they continued their ascendency in the mixed doubles wheelchair curling.

The British duo delivered a dominant 11-2 drubbing of Japanese pair Yoji Nakajima and Aki Ogawa who claimed gold in the World Championships in Scotland just last year.

It marked their third consecutive win in the round robin, having overcome defeats in their opening two matches, and leaves them second in the standings.

“We’re so happy,” said Butterfield. “We played really well. We’ve grown into the competition. We’ve played better in every game we’ve played and that was a demonstration out there.

“We had control of every end, and we didn’t give them an inch. That’s how we want to try and continue.”

Team JJ came out firing from the off, giving Japan almost nothing to work with in the first half.

They dominated the opening five ends to accrue an 8-0 lead heading into the sixth end with the game already all but won.

While the sixth end saw them concede two stones, it was a slight they clearly took offence to, as Butterfield delivered a brilliant shot to clear the house of two red stones and earn a 3-0 win in the seventh end.

It meant the game concluded there as Japan had no way back into it, leaving ParalympicsGB behind only China in the table with two matches left to play.

“There’s no real secret sauce to it. It’s what we’re trained to do. You’re going to make some mistakes out there, you would have seen that in some of the ends and it’s trying to reset and then trying to get going again,” said Kean.

“We know we’re capable of making some brilliant shots. And so long as you’re getting something from every stone and putting your opponents under pressure to do something, generally you get a good result.

“I’m over the moon with that on. We dominated the first five ends. It was fantastic.”

But it will be table toppers China who the duo come up against next, with their opponents having taken five wins from five so far.

The nature of GB’s victory over Japan, however, will certainly have instilled renewed belief as Butterfield and Kean continue an upwards trajectory in their efforts to qualify for a semi-final berth.

And they will not be looking to change they routine ahead of the showdown with China.

“It’ll the same process of what we’ve done every game. We go back, we debrief, we work out what we did well, what we can tighten up on and get some rest,” said Butterfield.

“We’ll watch the team game tonight, support them from our beds, watching it on the laptop and then come back out tomorrow.”