British Curling’s wheelchair squad has been re-organised into two new line-ups for this weekend’s Karlstad International as competition intensifies for places in next year’s World Championships in Gangneung.
Both teams competed well at last weekend’s Prague International, but missed out on the play-offs and Hugh Nibloe, who skipped Scotland at last season’s World Championships, acknowledged that there is work to be done.
“Last weekend we played better than we did in our previous outing at the Stirling International, but we need to make bigger improvements this weekend,” he said.
“Like Prague, Karlstad represents another really strong line-up, but we are fielding two solid teams at this event and we want to be among the top teams at the end of the weekend.
“There are a few technique adjustments required and we are all looking to improve our results and put a bit of a marker down this weekend.
“Not just in terms of who we are competing against, but also because we are all looking for places on the team when the World selections come round as we all want to be there in Korea in March.”
Nibloe is once again alongside Gregor Ewan, while they are joined this time around by Gary Logan and Charlotte McKenna.
In the GB2 team Stewart Pimblett, who skipped England at the World B Championships last month and Gary Smith join forces this time with Robert McPherson and Meggan Dawson-Farrell.
With only one more competition currently scheduled for the squad, on home ice in Stirling in the New Year, this trip to Europe has been important in terms of demonstrating a capacity to perform overseas as Dawson-Farrell acknowledged.
“It’s been good having competitions out here Europe and we could do with a bigger schedule with more wheelchair events like these to keep us competition ready,” she said.
“It’s been great training here in Sweden ahead of this competition.
“The facilities are fantastic and we know the competition is good so we are ready to battle it out for the wins and can’t wait to get started.”
New Line ups for Karlstad:
GB 1
Gregor Ewan
Hugh Nibloe
Gary Logan
Charlotte McKenna
GB 2
Stewart Pimblett
Gary Smith
Robert McPherson
Meggan Dawson-Farrell
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