British Open Wheelchair Curling starts in Lanarkshire

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Laura Hale

 

 

 

Wheelchair curling pictogram. Image credit: Maxxl2, licensed public domain.

 

Yesterday, the British Open Wheelchair Curling got underway in Lanarkshire, Scotland at the Lanarkshiren Ice Rink.  The Finnish team lost their opener against Scotland 2 by a score of 1 – 7.  The Finns won their second game Donaldson 6 – 1.  The Finns are scheduled to play Sweden and Webster later today.

The British Open Wheelchair Curling is one of the last chances for teams to get international experience ahead of the  2015 World Wheelchair Curling Championship scheduled to get underway on February 6 in at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland.  At least three teams competing at it are in the United Kingdom for this competition including Scotland, Finland and Sweden. Scotland and Sweden will meet in their second match of the competition. Finland and Scotland, and Sweden and Finland are scheduled to play each other on February 11.  This is a good chance for the teams to size each other up.

The Scottish world championship team, announced in late December, includes Aileen Neilson, Gregor Ewan, Jim Gault, Angie Malone, and Hugh Nibloe. The Finland side is captained by Markku Karjalainen.  The team spent the week before the competition training in Kisakallio.