China - Day 1

In Round 1, the USA Stripes team has a bye, but are on hand to root on the USA Stars team in their first match agains a local area team, Tsim Sha Tsui.

There are two rinks in Bijiashan Park in Shenzhen, and they are on two levels.  The upper level runs about 10-11 seconds, which would be moderately slow.  The lower level grass was put in about 4 months ago and it is running about 9 seconds, which is slow.  Compare this to the Hong Kong greens that were running about 12 seconds (slow to average) for the most part, and to most greens in the SouthWest area that run about 14-16 seconds (fast).  There is not much finesse that you can bowl with on greens that are this slow. 

The USA Stars hold the good fortune from Hong Kng together and win the first match handily 15-5, playing on the lower slow green.

In Round 2, the Stars moved to the upper green and faced the very tough national Hong Kong team.  Despite bowling well, the Hong Kong team bowls better and hands the Stars a 16-7 beating.

Also in Round 2, the Stripes have their first match against Spain, also on the upper green and win easily, 15-7.

There is a break for lunch, which was about a mile hike out of the park to a club/restaurant just outside of the park.  After the walk back everyone gathered for the opening cermeonies on the lower green.  Despite a threat of rain for every day in China, now was the only time that it did rain.  It sprinkled for about 5 minutes, poured for about 15 minutes, then sprinkled for another 5 minutes.  The ceremonies were slightly delayed until the rain stopped and then they began.  Flags that were placed around the lower rink were given to the teams to carry while walking out onto the green.  Scott Roberts and Aaron Zangl, the leads for the Stars and Stripes respectively, were given the honor of carrying the flag during the ceremony.

After the one-hour ceremony, including acrobatic dragons and a parade of all of the teams on the green, the teams went to their respective greens for Round 3 and the final match of the day.

After the rain, and one hour of people stomping around the lower green, it had now slowed even further and took a great deal of effort to bowl on.  The China-A team was upset on the very slow green by Spain 20-7, which would be their only loss of the qualifying rounds.

The USA Stars faced the same Australian team that they faced in Hong Kong.  Where as the game in Hong Kong was decided by one point on the final bowl, the Australians could not adjust to the slow conditions as well as the Americans.  The Stars won 19-5.

The USA Stripes were also on the lower green for their second match of the tournament against Happy Valley, a local team.  Unfortunately the Stripes lost, 12-8, in a close match.

At the end of the first day, the Stars are 2-1 and the Stripes are 1-1.  The goal is to get at least second place in the group in order to make the playoffs, so one loss keeps both teams in the hunt, but two losses will require some help to make it into the playoffs, so there is little room for error and some powerhouse teams yet to be played.