[ritchiebaby]

This year's Championships are coming home to Scotland - to Braehead Arena, in fact, which is just a few miles away from Paisley Abbey, where the first recorded game of curling took place in 1541. The Arena hosts many sporting events including ice hockey, boxing and Davis Cup tennis, as well as curling and it is also a regular venue for concerts covering music from pure unadulterated pop to heavy metal. Needless to say, it is a shopping centre too.  

46 teams from 27 countries are represented in this year's Championships, which has 4 different competitions.
There are 10 teams in the Mens' A Championships - Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland.
There are also 10 teams in the Womens' A Championships, namely Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland.
England are represented in both B Championships, with Wales only in the Mens' competition.
Men
Section A: Czech Republic, France, Israel, Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and Wales.
Section B: Belgium, England, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands. Poland and Slovenia.
Women
Belarus, England, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Turkey.

The Championships run from Saturday 19 November to Saturday 26 November with the top 7 teams from the A Division qualifying for the 2017 World Championships. The 8th placed team will play the top team from the B Division in a best-of-3 decider for the remaining World place, so there is still a great incentive for the B teams.

There will be team news and hopefully photos in the next preview, which all being well, will be posted tomorrow.

[ritchiebaby]

Still no photos on the competition website, so you'll just have to make do with this weekend's scheduled games.

In the A Division, the Scotland Men play Denmark and Norway on Saturday and then Sweden on Sunday. The  Scottish Women play one game on Saturday against Italy and then play Sweden and Norway on Sunday.

The English Men play Belgium on  Saturday and Latvia on Sunday in the B Division with Wales playing France on Saturday and Czech Republic on Sunday. Meanwhile the English Women take on Slovakia and Poland on Saturday followed by Belarus and Latvia on Sunday.

I have a club competition on Saturday, so don't expect a report on Saturday night!

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I've just noticed that the Scotland v Denmark Mens' game is on Eurosport1 on Saturday morning and the Scotland v Sweden Womens' game on Sunday morning is on Eurosport2. The broadcast times are Central European Time, but presumably will still be shown in the UK - unless Brexit has put the kybosh on that!  

[Lord Snooty]

Looking forward to being able to watch some of this. Nice one, Eurosport.

[Lord Snooty]

Cor blimey. That was an exciting end to the Scotland v Sweden ladies match.
All came down to the last stone from Eve Muirhead. Did she get it? Of course she did.
Scotland 6-5 Sweden

[St Charles Owl]

Definitely something I would watch if I could!!!!!

[ritchiebaby]

Amazingly enough, there are still no photos available on the website, so it's scores and scheduled games only.

A Men (not quite Amen for Scotland, but a poor start!)
Scotland - 3-8 v Denmark, 8-7 v Norway after an extra end, 8-4 v defending champions Sweden.
Tomorrow it's games against Austria and Switzerland and on Tuesday against Finland and Germany.

A Women (Hallelujah!)
Scotland - 6-5 v Italy, 6-5 v Sweden, 10-5 v Norway.
Tomorrow they play Finland and Switzerland and then Germany on Tuesday.

B Men
England - 15-6 v Belgium, 2-10 v Latvia.
Wales - 7-6 v France, 3-7 v Czech Republic.
Monday sees Wales play Spain and Lithuania with England playing Hungary and Poland. On Tuesday, Wales play Turkey  with England taking on Slovenia and Netherlands.

B Women
England - 12-4 v Slovakia, 7-6 v Poland, 4-7 v Belarus, 12-6 v Latvia.
They play Netherlands and Turkey tomorrow and Estonia on Tuesday.

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Definitely something I would watch if I could!!!!!

SCO - I doubt if you'll be able to get it in your neck of the woods, but from tomorrow there are broadcasts on TSN Canada, whatever that is!

[ritchiebaby]

More scores on the doors from today's games.

A Men
Scotland 6 Austria 7 after an extra end. Austria???????
Scotland 6 Switzerland 5
Scotland lie in 4th equal position after 5 games.

A Women
Scotland 10 Finland 4
Scotland 4 Switzerland 3
The Scottish team are out in front on their own, being unbeaten after 5 games.

B Men
Wales 9 Spain 6
Wales 8 Lithuania 2
England 8 Hungary 9
England 3 Poland 8
Wales are 2nd equal after 4 games and England are 6th equal, also after 4 games.

B Women
England 6 Netherlands 7 after an extra end
England 5 Turkey 3
England are now 2nd equal after 6 games out of 9.

I've just found out by pure chance that the BBC are streaming some of the games live. They've done 3 already with Germany v Scotland tomorrow afternoon at 2pm. They are also showing the Semi-finals and Finals later in the week.

[ritchiebaby]

And there's more!

Men - Scotland 5 Finland 6, Scotland 2 Germany 4; England 7 Slovenia 3, England 6 Netherlands 4, Wales 3 Turkey 6:
The Scots have slumped out of the reckoning now and must rely on other teams doing the same tomorrow.
Frustrated Scotland Fan - "We have 3 wins so far, against Sweden, Norway and Switzerland, who happen to be the top 3 teams.Meanwhile bottom of the table Finland have 1 win against ............Scotland!"  

Women - Scotland 8 Germany 6; England 5 Estonia 6:
Scotland are still unbeaten after 6 games and are in with a major chance of qualifying. England are in mid-table and look to have missed their chance today.

Tomorrow the Scottish Men finish with games against Italy and Russia. England's Men play Estonia tomorrow to complete their games. Wales finish against Slovakia and Israel tomorrow. It looks like each of the home countries need to win their final games to have any chance of progressing.

For the women, Scotland play Czech Republic and Denmark tomorrow followed by Russia on Thursday. England still have Hungary and Lithuania to play tomorrow.

[ritchiebaby]

Today's results

A Division - Men
Scotland 6 Italy 4, Scotland 6 Russia 8.
A disappointing last stone against Russia heralds the end of the competition for Scotland, who finish in 5th place. Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Russia are the four Semi-finalists.

A Division - Women
Scotland 10 Czech Republic 5, Scotland 7 Denmark 3.
Scotland are still unbeaten after 8 games and had easily qualified with two games to play. They are joined by Sweden and Russia with the remaining place to be decided tomorrow.

B Division -Men
Wales 4 Slovakia 7, England 7 Estonia 5, Wales 7 Israel 2.
Both Wales and England just miss out on a Tie-breaker place, finishing in 5th place in their respective sections.

B Division - Women
England 8 Hungary 9 after an extra end, England 7 Lithuania 6 after another extra end.
Following this sterling effort, England are tied with Netherlands for the fourth Semi-final place which will be decided in a Tie-breaker tomorrow morning. So come on England, revenge would be very sweet after the extra end defeat to the Dutch earlier in the week. Hungary, Estonia and Turkey are the countries who have already qualified.

[ritchiebaby]

England's Women continued their habit of close games in the B Division with a narrow defeat by Netherlands by 6-7 in this morning's Tie-breaker. This means that they finish a creditable 5th overall. The Semi-final results this afternoon were Hungary 9 Netherlands 8 and Estonia 2 Turkey 10.

In the Men's competition, the Qualifying games saw Israel beat Poland 8-4 and Slovakia beat Latvia 6-5. The Semi-final results tonight were Slovakia 9 Czech Republic 8 and Netherlands 6 Israel 2.

The Men's A Division Semi-finals resulted in Sweden 8 Russia 5 and Norway 7 Switzerland 4. Tomorrow's Bronze Medal game is  between Russia and Switzerland with Sweden and Norway contesting the Gold and Silver Medals on Saturday.

For the Women, Scotland beat Russia 8-4 this morning to finish the round robin games undefeated. Tomorrow's Semi-finals are Russia v Scotland and Sweden v Czech Republic.