In spite of their preparations being blighted by injury and illness Aberdeen International defending champions Team Whyte believe they can finish a strong season on a high after climbing to fourth spot in the world rankings since winning this title a year ago.
With powerhouse lead Euan Kyle ruled out through injury, while vice skip Robin Brydone has been struggling to shake off a virus, they have not had their troubles to seek since claiming their first Scottish Championship title last month, but skip Ross Whyte is fully focused on the positives as they prepare for this weekend and their last trip of the season to Canada for the final Grand Slam event of 2023/24.
“This year’s been really good for us,” he said.
“We’re getting some good results and starting to achieve some of our goals that we’ve set out to achieve.
“We want to continue that in our last two competitions of the year, hopefully starting by defending our title in Aberdeen. 
“That comes with some difficulties this weekend as our lead Euan is on the sidelines with an injury, which unfortunately means he’s out for the rest of the season, but he is recovering and already starting to feel better, so hopefully he’ll be good to go for the start of next season.
“Along with that Robin has been a bit under the weather for the last couple of weeks, so training hasn’t been too smooth this week, but we’re making the most of every session we do get together and we’re still looking to put in a good performance.”
As well as reigning world champions Team Mouat, their Scottish rivals, they will also be up against the USA’s 2018 Winter Olympic Champions Team Shuster at Curl Aberdeen in a field that should prepare them for next month’s Princess Autos Players Championship in Canada.
“There’s a very strong field this week, as there always is and the ice is always in good condition, so we look forward to giving it our all,” said Whyte.
“We’ve got Olympic champions in the field which adds to the weekend, alongside some very good teams from Europe and Scotland. 
“It’s great to play against the best teams we can and hopefully we can come out on top again.”
Working as a three man team, Whyte, Brydone and Duncan MacFadzean, who is also preparing for his forthcoming World Championship debut when he and Sophie Jackson represent Scotland in the Mixed Doubles in Sweden next month, open their account in the first round of matches on Friday morning against another of their domestic rivals Team Waddell, whose vice skip Craig Waddell will deputise for Kyle at the Players Championship.
Team Mouat open against Switzerland’s Team Stocker, while Scottish Junior champions Team Carson also face Swiss opposition in Team Hoesli in that opening round of matches.
John Shuster’s former Olympic Champions start their campaign against yet another of the Swiss contingent Team Brunner in the second round of matches which features another clash between two of the five Scottish line-ups currently placed in the top 20 of the world rankings, led by James Craik and Cameron Bryce.
Please click here for results from the Aberdeen International.
Images: Anil Mungal/GSOC
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