Scotland claimed their first victory at the World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Championships in Finland, beating Japan 8-4 after drawing inspiration from the success of British Curling colleagues Eve Muirhead and Bobby Lammie the previous day.
Like their able-bodied counterparts, Meggan-Dawson Farrell and Gregor Ewan are making their debut in overseas competition as a partnership in what is the inaugural staging of the wheelchair event and they endured a testing first day of competition, losing to Switzerland and Hungary.
However, they took charge of the first of today’s matches from the start, beating their Japanese opponents in the pre-match draw shot challenge to claim the hammer and getting immediately on the scoreboard at the first end. 
Steals at the second and third ends looked to have put them in complete control, but Yuri Muramatsu and Hiroshi Wachi responded well, scoring a three at the fourth end to level the scores heading into the midway break.
That proved only a temporary setback, however, as Dawson-Farrell and Ewan reasserted themselves with a two at the fifth end then, after forcing their opponents to take just one at the next, a three at the seventh end to wrap up the match.
“Coming off with a win always gives you a buzz, knowing we got things right,” said Ewan.
“After last night’s debrief we worked hard on sticking to our processes and I think we did that much better today.”
He believes they are beginning to adjust to the more frenetic nature of mixed doubles in which players are involved much more intensely then in the four-player team game.
“There are a lot of similarities, but everything just seems to move faster in mixed doubles,” he explained.
“We’re used to bursts of activity in the team game and then you can be sitting waiting for 10 minutes before playing your next shot, but it’s a constant snap, snap, snap here and you’re not getting a lot of time to rest or think.”
Following their first day disappointments, Ewan said that news of Muirhead and Lammie’s success across the continent when winning the World Mixed Doubles title in Switzerland to successfully defend the title won by Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat last year, had lifted their spirits going into today.
“Watching Bobby sweeping and Eve calling the shots is brilliant to watch and for them to win that gold medal is definitely a buzz for Scotland as well as them,” he said.
“We all want to do as well as they have.”
The Scottish pair had a much more difficult time in their second match of the day, however, losing 11-1 to Italy.
“It was unfortunate we didn’t come out with a win in that game,” Dawson-Farrell said afterwards.
“We have a lot to take away from it, a lot we can go away and work on, especially tonight in practise, we can go in and throw stones and work on all those things we know that we know we can do and come out again fighting tomorrow.” 
Halfway through the competition they now face a formidable challenge to make it to the play-offs, but there have been considerable benefits to be taken from this experience.
“It’s been interesting coming out as a two-player team, when we’re used to being in a four-player team and it’s given us the chance to learn loads of new things and ways of working,” said Dawson-Farrell.
The wheelchair curlers were meanwhile given a boost later yesterday when World Curling Federation President Kate Caithness confirmed to them that on the back of the introduction of a World Mixed Doubles Championship, there will now be two opportunities to play for medals at the next Winter Paralympic Games.
“She told us that mixed doubles is going to be at the next Paralympics, so that’s very exciting,” said Dawson-Farrell, who was the only female member of the British team at this year’s Paralympics in Beijing.
“It gives us something else to focus on, so we’re really looking forward to learning some more about mixed doubles and it gives us another opportunity.”
The event, held at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland (30 April – 5 May), features 18 national teams, split into two groups of nine, competing in a round-robin format, ahead of knockout play-offs for the medals.
Scotland Wheelchair Curling Mixed Doubles Team
Meggan Dawson-Farrell
Gregor Ewan
Saturday 30 April
Scotland – Switzerland 5-10
Scotland – Hungary 7-4
Sunday 1 May
Scotland – Japan 8-4
Scotland – Italy 11-1
Monday 2 May
Scotland – Estonia
Tuesday 3 May
Scotland – Korea
Scotland – Finland
Wednesday 4 May
Scotland – Sweden
Thursday 5 May
Semi finals
A1 v winner of B2 v A3
B1 v winner of A2 v B3
Finals
#curling #WWhMDCC2022
