"Okay, you vote first."

"Then I won't be polite."

Ling Zhi didn't show any pretense and started to step forward to throw. He walked to the pedals and didn't get down in a hurry. He turned his head to Zhao Shiyan and asked:

"Shi Yan, should I throw it directly into the base camp, or is it better to throw a placeholder pot?"

Zhao Shiyan slid slowly on the ice track in front of Ling Zhi, feeling the friction of the ice surface. After hearing Ling Zhi ask her a question, she raised her head and smiled at Ling Zhi;

"The first pot doesn't matter, you just decide."

"That's okay."

After Ling Zhi made up his mind, he lay down, pushed hard on the pedal behind him, and slowly slid forward. When he was about to reach the forward throw line, he released the handle of the curling stone, and the curling stone moved towards his intended direction.

Slide in the direction.

In a curling competition, there is a forward throw line and a back throw line at each end of the ice lane. Every time a player throws a curling stone, he must throw it to the middle of the two lines at the other end of the ice lane, otherwise it will be considered an invalid throw.

There is also one base camp at each end of the ice lane. Each base camp is nested by four circles of different sizes. The lower end of the outermost circle is close to the rear line.

Every time a player throws, the player must try to keep his curling stone as close to the center of the circle as possible. After each round, the number of stones of the same color closest to the center of the circle is the winner's score.

For example, after a round of competition, there are two yellow pots closest to the center of the circle in the base camp, followed by a red pot and a yellow pot respectively. Then the side holding the yellow pot wins the round and gets 2 points, and the red pot wins the round.

Score 0 points.

After discussion between Zhao Shiyan and Director Cai, the four decided that Ling Zhi and Gao Xiangyu would play 4 rounds, each throwing 8 pots in each round, and the one with the highest score would win. Ling Zhi would hold the yellow pot and Gao Xiangyu would hold the red pot.

Ling Zhi didn't think too much about his first shot. He just went straight to the center of the base camp to test what Gao Xiangyu would do.

But after the throw, Ling Zhi discovered that Zhao Shiyan was gliding slowly with the yellow kettle and did not help Ling Zhi clear the ice. It seemed that he was relaxed and happy, but Ling Zhi felt slightly uncomfortable.

Zhao Shiyan didn't help him clear the ice. There was only one reason:

The curling speed is too fast, there is no need to sweep.

Sure enough, after the yellow pot slid into the opposite base camp, it seemed that it had no intention of slowing down. It didn't stop in the middle of the outer circle and the inner circle until it passed the center line of the circle.

The base camp can also be said to be composed of two rings with different colors. The ring formed by the smallest circle and the second smallest circle is the inner circle. Similarly, the ring formed by the largest circle and the second largest circle is the outer circle.

lock up.

The line that passes through the center of the base camp circle and is parallel to the forward throw line and the back line is called the center line.

Every time a player throws, they will try to throw the curling stone between the center line of the circle and the forward throw line. It is best not to exceed the center line of the circle and be close to the back line.

The reason is very simple. Once it crosses the center line of the circle, the subsequent curling stone may only move further and further away from the center of the circle and be in an uncontrollable state.

Lingzhi's first shot obviously did not control the intensity well and went far beyond the center line of the circle. For a professional player, this is definitely a major technical mistake.

Ling Zhi himself shook his head slightly and was very dissatisfied with his shot. He had obviously practiced for a day, but when it came time for the game, his shot still didn't matter.

Zhao Shiyan didn't care at all. He stood at the base camp at the other end and made an "ok" gesture to Ling Zhi, indicating that the shot was okay.

"Hey, it seems you really don't know how to play. Let's see big brother teach you in person."

Although Gao Xiangyu has never played curling, as an ice hockey player, he still knows the rules of curling very well.

I saw him walking onto the ice, picking up a red kettle, and tried his hand on the ice. Judging from this posture, it seemed that he was going to use force to knock away the yellow kettle on the opposite side.

"Xiangyu, this throw should be more stable. You can throw a placeholder pot or stick it or stick it."

Cai Fen suggested from the side. Ling Zhi also nodded slightly. This suggestion is not bad.

The so-called sticking means sticking closely to the other person's pot, and sticking means gently knocking the other person's pot to the outside.

At this time, Lexus' yellow pot has reached the lower half. If the red pot stops on the upper side of the yellow pot, the situation will be very favorable to the red pot, because in this case, it will be difficult for Lexus to knock the red pot out of the base camp with one blow.

However, at this moment, Gao Xiangyu chuckled and said:

"I won't ink you in this first round, just do it."

After saying that, he took the lead, kicked off the pedals, and quickly slid towards the direction of the yellow pot in the base camp.

It has to be said that Gao Xiangyu has a very clear idea of ​​the curling trajectory.

Director Cai followed the curling kettle and did nothing to help the red kettle correct its trajectory. The red kettle knocked the yellow kettle straight out of the base camp, and the red kettle stopped motionless in the inner circle below the center line.

Although the throw was not made according to Coach Cai's advice, the throw was still a good throw.

Ling Zhi frowned, and then he followed suit and knocked Gao Xiangyu's red pot out of the base camp. However, he did not dare to use too much force to prevent the curling trajectory from deviating, and Zhao Shiyan could not help him correct the trajectory.

Fortunately, Lingzhi's practice this day was not in vain. Basically, every shot was able to hit the red pot squarely without much deviation.

Zhao Shiyan would occasionally help Ling Zhi sweep the ice, but most of the time she would just follow the curling stone and not make any moves.

Since Lingzhi took the lead in this round, Gao Xiangyu took the last shot. As the yellow pot was knocked out of the base camp, Gao Xiangyu won the round and scored 1 point.

This kind of bayonet fighting style is very common in men's curling competitions, especially in the opening stage. You bump into me, I bump into you, and finally get a point with your backhand. This is a situation that both teams can accept.

"How do you like it? I just want to ask you if you accept it!"

Gao Xiangyu proudly showed off to Ling Zhi.

Ling Zhi didn't answer, but smiled secretly in his heart.

In a curling match, the second player in each round is extremely advantageous, because even if the first player has a great advantage before, then the last throw of the second player can, at worst, move the opponent as close as possible to the center of the base camp.

The curling stone is played, allowing one's own curling stone to get a guaranteed point.

Therefore, it is normal for the second mover to score one point.

Experienced teams will score more points in the second round, which will put more pressure on their opponents when the next round becomes the first round.

On the contrary, if you can score in the first round, it will put more pressure on your opponent.

Finally, if any team grabs the second hand in the final round, then this team will have a huge advantage.

Therefore, you can often see that in the penultimate round of curling competitions, some teams deliberately lose this round just to get a second round.

Of course, we are still far away from the final round at this time, and it is not yet time to grab the upper hand.

Ling Zhi did not deliberately lose this round from the beginning, but because his first shot made a huge mistake and he lost the opportunity, he took advantage of the situation and tested Gao Xiangyu's strategy while testing his hand.

Of course, Ling Zhi was satisfied with the result. Losing one point was nothing, as he could recover it immediately. However, Gao Xiangyu seemed to be reckless? This made Ling Zhi a little worried about the following games.

If the opponent continues to use strength to defeat skill in the future, then for Lingzhi, he will not be able to think of any good strategies to take the initiative. Each player can only take turns to score one point, and eventually it will be a tie.

If there is a tie, the two players will need to play overtime according to the rules. If Lexus gets 1 point from behind in the fourth round, then he will be the first in overtime. By then, it will not be a win for him.

Favorable situation!

Therefore, Lexus is constantly thinking about how to regain a favorable situation.

"Lingzhi. Let's deal with him slowly in the next round. We can't fight like we did just now."

Zhao Shiyan slid next to Ling Zhi and said to him. She could obviously feel the undercurrent of the current situation.

"Well, actually I think so too."

After the two reached an agreement, they felt a lot more relieved. Even if they lost the game, they wouldn't suffer much loss. Giving Cai a day's work time was also Zhao Shiyan's original intention.

But in this case, it will be Gao Xiangyu's turn to be arrogant towards Ling Zhi.

Zhao Shiyan felt angry when she thought about how Gao Xiangyu would mock Ling Zhi if he won. She was determined to help Ling Zhi win this game!

In the second round, Gao Xiangyu voted first.

Since he was the first mover and the base camp was still empty, Gao Xiangyu didn't care. He followed Cai Fen's suggestion and planned to throw a placeholder pot with light force.

Cai Fen stepped forward and bent down to help Gao Xiangyu's red pot sweep the ice. Ling Zhi could see that her ice sweeping skills were very good.

She swept for a while and then stopped for a while, maintaining the speed of the curling stone neither too fast nor too slow. But no matter when she swept the ice, she always swept it in the direction of rotation of the curling stone, which could bring the curling stone closer to the connection between the two.

The centerline of the pedal.

In the end, the red pot barely crossed the forward throw line at the other end and stopped on the center line, occupying a good position.

The main function of the placeholder stone in the curling competition is to block the curling stones behind it. In this case, if one's own curling stone is subsequently thrown behind the placeholder stone, the opponent will not be able to use force to block the curling stone behind the placeholder stone.

Break out of base camp.

Therefore, in professional competitions, it is a common strategy to see players throwing placeholder pots in the opening stage.

Zhao Shiyan clicked a position in the base camp on the opposite side, which was right behind the space-occupying pot, which meant that Ling Zhi would try to throw there and use the opponent's space-occupying pot to block it.

Ling Zhi understood and made an "ok" gesture with his right hand. After adjusting his gliding posture, he threw the yellow pot with his left hand.

Zhao Shiyan hurried forward to help Ling Zhi clear the ice. Ling Zhi lay still and stared at the trajectory of the yellow pot.

This Lingzhi throw was intended to bypass the placeholder stone from the left, so a slight clockwise rotation was added to help the curling stone draw an arc when the subsequent speed slowed down.

However, Ling Zhi's shot was too far away from the center line, so even if it drew an arc, it might be difficult to get behind the placeholder pot. In addition, Zhao Shiyan was frantically helping Ling Zhi sweep the ice, so Ling Zhi could also see that.

This shot was a slight mistake.

"Offline! Offline!"

Lingzhi lay there and shouted. The bottom line has the opposite meaning to the top line. The bottom line is to sweep the curling stone out of an arc, and the top line is to try to make the curling stone go as straight as possible.

Zhao Shiyan had already understood this and was frantically sweeping the ice on the right side of the curling direction. Judging from her movements, she seemed to have the momentum to never stop until the ice was swept away and melted.

With Zhao Shiyan's efforts, the yellow pot finally entered the base camp smoothly. However, from Ling Zhi's perspective, the yellow pot was not completely hidden behind the red pot, and could still be hit directly. Fortunately, the whole thing could not be hit.
To be continued...