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Takeaways: Canada avoids second near-collapse to close round-robin at curling worlds

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This lede was supposed to read: Canada’s Team Matt Dunstone is truly rounding into its best form heading into the playoffs at the men’s world championship in Ogden, Utah.

Instead, we now have to talk about the fact that the Canadians, specifically Dunstone, fell apart after the eighth end for the second straight day. 

The Canadian rink did pull out the 6-5 extra-end victory over Norway, which finished 0-12, but there never should’ve been an extra end to begin with. 

Up until the ninth end, the Canadian lineup of Dunstone, Colton Lott, E.J. Harnden and Geoff Walker, who was subbing for Ryan Harnden, were straight up dominating play against the Norwegians, and held a 5-2 lead.  

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But just like in the game against Switzerland on Wednesday, Dunstone couldn’t make a key shot in the ninth end, helping Norway score two to cut the lead to 5-4. 

Even then, everything should’ve been fine. Canada was still in control, up 5-4 with the hammer and could finish the game in the 10th end. 

Dunstone was facing a double takeout on his last, but stuffed it and gave up a steal of one to the Norwegians to tie the game 5-5. In both cases, Dunstone softened the release and threw lighter than he wanted, causing more curl, and for him to miss the shot. 

The skipper did show poise, however, in the extra end as he was able to regather himself and make a nice hit to win the game.

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There are still a lot of positives for this Canadian team, like the fact that it has looked amazing at times (all but two of the 16 ends played on Thursday) during this now eight-game winning streak, which it will take into the playoffs.

But with how the closing ends have gone in the last couple of games, there is reason to be concerned. 

Surprisingly, the Canadians’ 10-2 record wasn’t good enough for a top-two spot at this year’s world championship, with Sweden and Scotland beating them on the draw to the button tiebreaker. 

As a result, Dunstone’s Manitoba-based rink has to settle for third in the 13-team round-robin and will now face Italy, which finished sixth overall, in the qualification game. The winner will face Scotland in one semifinal, while Switzerland and the U.S. will battle in the other qualification game to match up against Sweden.

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Even though Dunstone defeated the Italians 9-2 on day one, it will be a much different team the Canadians will go against on Friday. 

20-year-old rookie skip Stefano Spiller shot 60 per cent for Italy in that opening game after replacing Joel Retornaz, who decided to pull himself from the event, just a couple weeks before the championship began. 

That will most likely not be the case again. Spiller is playing with a lot more confidence and has a better understanding of how his teammates want to play now.

Need to force Whyte to miss 

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The favourite as we head to the playoffs has to be Scotland’s rookie team led by skip Ross Whyte. After starting 0-2, the Scots have won 10-straight games.

Sure, we can look at the whole team made up of Whyte, third Robin Brydone, second Craig Waddell and lead Euan Kyle and say all four have been a key part to its success this week — as a team they’re first overall at 89 per cent.

But when looking at the playoffs, the other top teams aren’t going to be as worried about them, as they will be with Whyte. 

The Scottish skip has been a massive problem for every team he’s faced this week. He’s been the best skip in the field, shooting 89.4 per cent overall with no games below 81 per cent.

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Most importantly, it’s been the clutch shots that Whyte has made to either get his team out of trouble without the hammer or just to score one. Just ask Switzerland’s Team Marco Hoesli.

In the 10th end on Thursday, the Scots were up 5-4 without hammer, and Hoesli had one sitting back button buried to score his one. 

Somehow, Whyte came through an incredibly tight port of three stones for an in-off to hit the Swiss stone and sit two. Switzerland ended up losing 7-4.

If any team is going to beat Scotland in the playoffs, the focus has to be on forcing Whyte into the hardest shots possible each end to hopefully earn a miss. If he makes them, then you live with it.

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We’re talking angled double runbacks, triple raises, forcing a draw to only the pin, because if not, he’s probably going to make whatever the shot is with ease on the way to a world championship as a rookie.

Edin’s shoot touch is back

Through seven games at this year’s world championship, Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin was perfect, rebounding from the disappointing 2026 Olympics, where his squad went 2-7.

Edin himself was shooting lights out, and looked like he had the magic touch back that helped him become a seven-time world champion — the most of all time.

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However, Sweden then proceeded to drop two important games to Switzerland and Canada on the same day, when Edin shot 57 and 75 per cent, respectively.

Edin lost his shooting touch and wasn’t able to get a handle on his draw weight, costing him both games.

Well, it seems that lit a fire under Edin, because the Swedes finished on a three-game winning streak, outscoring their opponents 28-6. Sweden also finished 10-2 on the week, good for first overall and a bye to the semifinals. 

In those three games, we saw the same Edin to start the week, or maybe even a better version, as he shot 100, 94 and 100 per cent. 

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Looking at the playoffs, Edin’s shot-making ability will be the driving force for Sweden to have success and help him find world championship No. 8. All season, when Edin has been on, the team goes, and when he doesn’t seem to have it, the team gets blown out.

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Towering statue of Pele unveiled in Guadalajara ahead of FIFA World Cup | FIFA World Cup 2022

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Pele's statue installed in Guadalajara

Pele’s statue installed in Guadalajara


A large statue of soccer great Pele was unveiled Thursday in the Mexican city of Guadalajara to commemorate his achievements with the Brazilian national team.


Pele, who died at age 82 in 2022, won one of his three World Cup titles in Mexico at the 1970 edition of the tournament.


“This monumental figure of this great player, who played here and scored a great goal, is a great gift to the people of Jalisco and to all visitors,” Jalisco Gov. Pablo Lemus said. “Pele loved Guadalajara, and the Brazilian national team fell in love with it because the Mexican public gave them everything in 1970.” 

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The 9.5-meter-tall (31-foot) statue is located in a public square called Plaza Brazil outside the Jalisco Stadium, which hosted matches in the 1970 and 1986 World Cups. For its 1970 title run, Brazil played its first-round, quarterfinal, and semifinal matches at the stadium before beating Italy in the final at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.


“People who come to the Jalisco Stadium now will stop to take pictures. This statue will be a landmark, especially since it depicts a football star like Pele,” Lemus said. “It’s a great gift for the World Cup.” 
In the 2026 World Cup, Guadalajara will host four first-round matches: South Korea vs. Czech Republic on June 12; Mexico vs. South Korea on June 18, Colombia vs. Congo on June 23, and Uruguay vs. Spain on June 26.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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First Published: May 22 2026 | 12:32 PM IST

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Pro reveals details of insane tattoo bet with caddie

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On Sunday, Lottie Woad enjoyed what is becoming a regular tradition in her pro career.

With a final-round 69 at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati, Woad, who is 22, won her second LPGA event (and third event in total) since turning pro in the middle of last year. Woad’s victory was the latest highlight in her rapid climb up the food chain in the women’s game. It was also a moment of affirmation for one of her more … eclectic competitive rituals: a bag of gummy bears that has served as her good-luck charm.

As the story goes, the tradition started with Woad’s caddie, David Taylor, a veteran LPGA looper who evidently shares her sweet tooth.

“So, back in the UK, we’ve got kind of little supermarket called Marks & Spencer, and they do this sweet called Percy Pigs, and it just so happened that Singapore had one of these little small supermarkets, and I came across it one night when we were out for dinner,” Taylor said. “So, I took them and I put them in the bag, and I said, ‘These are some birdie sweets.’”

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Caddies are famously adept at discovering motivational tools for their players, and in Taylor’s case, the key to Woad’s heart was simple.

“Now, every player is driven by different things, some are financially driven, Lotte is in fact driven by sweets,” he said. “So, I put them in the bag, and I said, ‘Every birdie you make, we get one each.’ So it’s not she’s going to hit some mad sugar rush or anything.”

Woad is careful to point out that she’s not exactly housing gummy bears during the course of competition. The candies are a boost that helps to break up the monotony of life on the road.

“I don’t know, we’ve done it the last few events that we remembered,” Woad said with a grin. “Yeah, I think people think that we’re like stuffing our faces with sweets during the round, but like realistically we’re eating like four gummy bears.”

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But Woad’s moment in the sun at the Kroger Queen City Championship was dually rewarding, and not just for the sugar high of a pro victory. As Taylor explained in an interview with SiriusXM, he’d made his pro an unusual promise: The next time she won an event, she could choose the design for the next tattoo on her caddie’s body.

Woad’s victory in Cincy meant that she had earned that right, and as you might expect, there was only one option that made sense.

“Actually, about one hour ago, I got a text message from her, and she’s finally chosen what to get,” Taylor said with a laugh. “She’s chosen the piece, and it is, in fact, going to be a little gummy bear with a crown on it.”

A gummy bear with a crown — fitting for the first crowning of a new LPGA heavyweight player-caddie pairing … and one that just so happened to come in the Queen City.

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You can’t put it on kids

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Former India player Aakash Chopra has questioned Ruturaj Gaikwad for attributing the Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) early exit from IPL 2026 to a young and inexperienced team. He highlighted that the blame shouldn’t be put on kids and that the seniors need to own up.

CSK were eliminated from IPL 2026 after an 89-run loss against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad on Thursday, May 21. The visitors were bowled out for 140 in pursuit of a 230-run target.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ the former India batter opined that Gaikwad should have spoken about the underperforming seniors instead of the youngsters while reflecting on CSK‘s exit in the post-match interview.

“He said that’s a very young team, that they cannot show that much faith in youngsters, and that they don’t have enough experience. I am wondering why those who have experience aren’t being spoken about. The talk should have been about Sanju Samson, Rutu, Shivam Dube, and Dewald Brevis. The talk shouldn’t be about Ayush Mhatre, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, or Urvil Patel. What they did was excellent,” Chopra said.

“The talk should actually be about the elders. Rutu, how was your season? Kids bring bravado and an attacking approach. They don’t bring consistency, and how will they bring consistency? They are kids. So whose responsibility was it? You said you would open and don’t want to let Mhatre open. You needed to score runs. I agree that anyone can have a bad season, but you need to own up. You can’t put it on kids that they didn’t do well,” he added.

Ruturaj Gaikwad aggregated 337 runs at an underwhelming strike rate of 123.44 in 14 innings in IPL 2026. Shivam Dube (270 runs at a strike rate of 158.82 in 12 innings) and Dewald Brevis (151 runs at a strike rate of 127.96 in eight innings) also weren’t at their best this season.


“The mistake was in the auction as well” – Aakash Chopra on CSK’s IPL 2026 exit

Dewald Brevis was one of the two overseas batters in CSK's IPL 2026 squad (Image via X/@IPL)Dewald Brevis was one of the two overseas batters in CSK's IPL 2026 squad (Image via X/@IPL)
Dewald Brevis was one of the two overseas batters in CSK’s IPL 2026 squad (Image via X/@IPL)

In the same video, Aakash Chopra reckoned it wasn’t the youngsters’ mistake, highlighting that CSK had also erred in the IPL 2026 auction.

“In that interview, it seemed like it was the kids’ mistake. It wasn’t the kids’ mistake. The mistake was in the auction as well. You had two overseas batters, and they weren’t even like-for-like. You played with three overseas many times,” he said.

While acknowledging that Gaikwad might not have had enough time to reflect on the loss before the post-match interview, the cricketer-turned-commentator opined that his comment was odd.

“Plenty of problems that can be talked about later, but I found that one comment odd. Putting your responsibility on someone else is not the nicest way of doing things. You might not have got enough time to think about it post-match, you reacted suddenly, and you don’t mean it perfectly, but it still felt slightly odd as the kids have done decently. It wasn’t about them at all,” Chopra observed.

However, Aakash Chopra concurred with Ruturaj Gaikwad that the Chennai Super Kings were hit hard by injuries in IPL 2026. While terming CSK the ‘Chotil Super Kings’ because of the number of injuries they have endured, he pointed out that even Sanju Samson got injured while keeping in their last league game.

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