The United States scored an easy 11 to 4 victory over Sweden in the final game of the World Curling Championships at Berne in Switzerland yesterday (23 March).

The young Swedish team's hope of retaining the championship crown they won in Regina, Canada, last year dimmed when the Americans won the fifth end. For the rest of the match, Bud Somerville from U.S. team gave the Swedes no chance of regaining the initiative.

The final was anti-climatic. The most exciting curling of the day took place in the semi-finals, when Sweden narrowly beat Canada -- champions for twelve of the seventeen years the championship has been held -- by eight ends to seven. The American team reached the final after an equally close game against the home side, Switzerland.