CANADA MAKES PLAYOFF CUT AT WOMEN’S WORLD CURLING

SANDVIKEN, SWEDEN Canada’s Kerri Einarson closed her roundrobin schedule with an 11-5 loss to Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont on Friday but still managed to secure a playoff berth at the women’s world curling championship. Her Manitoba-based rink of Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Harris, which defeated Turkey’s Dilsat Yildiz 10-4 earlier in the day, finished in third place at 7-5 and will face sixth-place Japan (7-5) on Saturday in a qualification match. The top six teams advanced to the playoffs, with three-time defending champion Switzerland (12-0) and Norway (8-4) getting byes to the semifinals as the top two teams. Canada fell to Japan 6-5 in round-robin play on Thursday. Sweden (7-5) and Italy (7-5) meet in the other qualification game.