‘Devastated’ GB curlers miss out on semi-finalsImage source, ReutersImage caption, Jason Kean and Jo Butterfield won three and lost four of their round-robin gamesByKatie FalkinghamBBC Sport Senior Journalist in CortinaPublished5 hours agoGreat Britain’s joyless start to the Winter Paralympics continued as wheelchair curlers Jo Butterfield and Jason Kean let slip their grasp on the mixed doubles semi-finals and missed out on qualifying.It proved a tough day for the British team, after Para-alpine skier Neil Simpson missed out on defending his super G title with his second fourth-place finish of the Games.Two days ago, Butterfield and Kean were joint second in the standings and looked in a strong position to progress, knowing just one win from their final two games would likely be enough.They were always the underdogs going into Sunday’s tie against unbeaten China, although they led 5-1 after three ends before a change in tactics proved their undoing. Monday’s opponents Italy, meanwhile, were rock bottom of the standings having won just one game, and had no hope of qualifying.But they were gifted a 4-0 lead in the opening end and, buoyed on by a loud partisan crowd in Cortina, opened up that advantage to 10-4 after six ends.Yet in a remarkable demonstration of their grit, Butterfield and Kean scored six points across the final two ends to force an extra decider, but misjudged their final two shots as Italy won 11-10.”We’re gutted, we’re devastated,” mentioned Butterfield, who was bidding to become the first British athlete to win gold at both the summer and winter Paralympics after her club throw gold at Rio 2016.”We came here with a plan and we didn’t quite execute it. The one thing I’ll say is that I’m really proud of [Kean] and I’m proud of us.”We left it all out there, absolutely everything, and we just fell short at the end. It hurts.”Kean, making his Paralympic debut, added: “At 10-4 down in the sixth end, I didn’t think it was possible to get to an extra end but we somehow managed to dig it out. “[I’m] absolutely gutted, but we tried our very best. It hurts quite a lot.”Russia win their first gold medal of Paralympics
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