A second successive victory at the SD Biosensor World Wheelchair Championships in Korea has taken Scotland off bottom spot, but defeat in their second match of day five means they now cannot escape the relegation zone.
Looking to build on a fine win over Canada at the Gangneung Curling Centre the previous day, Hugh Nibloe, Gregor Ewan, Robert McPherson and Meggan Dawson-Farrell had to work hard to gain the upper hand over Estonia, going into the midway break level at 2-2.
The pressure they were applying finally told when two mistakes by opposing skip Ain Vilau as both his shots caught guards, allowed them to register a four which proved decisive as they then managed the scoreboard in running out 6-4 winners.
“We’re happy we got off to a winning start today against Estonia and carried over the momentum from our game against Canada,” said Scotland skip Nibloe. 
“The Estonian skip managed to keep them in the game in the first half with a couple of really big shots, but he couldn’t maintain that and inevitably we got the big four in the fifth end, which was the game at that point.
“We saw it out well and were happy with that.”
It was a different story against familiar foes Sweden, however, as they reverted to the pattern of play that has seen them repeatedly forced to play catch-up in matches throughout the round-robin stages of this event.
“Against Sweden, it’s been the story of our week, giving ourselves far too much to do after we didn’t start great and gave up opportunities,” Nibloe acknowledged.
“Sweden punished us, taking their chances, then pretty much keeping us at arm’s length the whole way through.
“It was a really tough game, almost the opposite of the Canada game last night, where it was us on the receiving end and having to play the big shots and we just couldn’t come up with them unfortunately.
“We gave it our all to the end, though until Sweden ran us out of stones and they were the better team and deserved their victory.”
Having claimed a bronze medal a year ago, there is a deep sense of disappointment at finishing in the bottom three of the 12 competing teams this time around.
However, Nibloe issued a powerful rallying call ahead of their final two meetings with Slovakia and China, the reigning Paralympic and defending World champions, noting that the campaign at these World Championships continues in the Mixed Doubles for their alternate Gary Smith, who was called up to support them after Gary Logan’s late withdrawal from the team due to illness.
“It’s been a couple of years since the Paralympics when we last played against Slovakia so we’re looking forward to playing them and it’s always good fun against China,” he said.
“We’ve beaten them in the past and we know we can beat them again.
“We just have to find the form we had against Canada and Estonia this morning.
“If we can do that then we have a chance against both teams.
“We’ll do our very best and you never know when the last time you pull on a Scotland kit will be, so we’ll be giving it our all and trying to show we’re worth our places, showing we can bring some positives back to the programme.
“When you look at the table that’s us officially in the bottom three, but we’ve got to go into these last two games really fighting to do something and end well.
“I’m sure all five of us will be doing everything we can and hopefully we can send Gary (Smith) into the Mixed Doubles on a bit of a high.”
The team event at the Championships continues until March 9 and is then followed by the mixed doubles which take place from March 11-14 March, with home nations Scotland and England in a field of 21 teams.
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Scotland Team
Hugh Nibloe
Gregor Ewan
Robert McPherson
Meggan Dawson Farrell
Gary Smith (alternate)
Team Leader David Leith
Team Coach Luke Carson
Scotland Mixed Doubles Team
Charlotte McKenna
Gary Smith
Team Coach Niall Ryder
England Mixed Doubles Team
Stewart Pimblett
Karen Aspey
Team Coach Tony Lenton
Assistant Coach Rosemary Lenton
Schedule
Saturday 2 March
Session 1 – 5am (GMT)
Scotland – Latvia 5 - 6
Session 2 -10am (GMT)
Scotland – Norway 5 – 6 (EE)
Sunday 3 March
Session 4 – 5am (GMT)
Scotland – Italy 3-6
Monday 4 March
Session 6 – 12 midnight (GMT)
Scotland – Korea 2-6
Session 8 – 10am (GMT)
Scotland – Czechia 5-6
Tuesday 5 March
Session 9 - 12 midnight (GMT)
Scotland – USA 6-7
Session 11 – 10am (GMT)
Scotland – Canada 8-2
Wednesday 6 March
Session 13 – 5am (GMT)
Scotland – Estonia 6-4
Session 14 – 10am (GMT)
Scotland – Sweden 2-6
Thursday 7 March
Session 15 – 12 midnight (GMT)
Scotland – Slovakia
Session 16 – 5am (GMT)
Scotland – China
Friday 8 March
Qualifications – 5am (GMT)
Semi Finals – 10am (GMT)
Saturday 9 March
Final – 2am (GMT)
Image: WCF
