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The World Seniors for both Men and Women are being played in Östersund, Sweden from 20 to 27 April and are being run in conjunction with the World Mixed Doubles event.

There are 25 Men's teams, including those from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, split into 4 Groups. England are represented by Guy Topping, Peter Topping, Peter Alexander and Chris Kerr with John Brown as Alternate. Ireland have Bill Gray, David Whyte, Neil Fyfe and Ross Barr with Johnjo Kenny as Alternate. Scotland's team is Hammy McMillan (father of Hammy junior), Murray McWilliam, John Agnew and Gerald Baillie and Wales' hopes are carried by Andrew Tanner, Richard Pougher, Alistair Reid and George Fyffe.

Scotland being presented with the Scottish Seniors Trophy


The Women's event consists of 18 teams in 3 Groups. They include England's team of Manon Harsch, Angela Wilcox, Helen Forbes and Deborah Higgins, the latter two being members of my local ice rink, while Ireland have Dale Sinclair, Bernie Gillett, Nina Clancy (also from my local rink) and Louise Kerr. Scotland have Karen Kennedy, Gail Thomson, Alison Cunningham, Gillian King and Alternate, Sheila Kennedy.

The England team after qualifying for the Worlds

Scotland with the Scottish Seniors Trophy


More photos to come after I find them.

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Here are some more photos to complete the album.


England Men - Chris Kerr, Peter Alexander, Peter Topping and Guy Topping
In case you're wondering about Messrs Topping, their team plays out of Preston Flower Bowl Ice Rink and they are directors of the parent group. A bit of sublimal advertising there! It took some time to find this photo, but I now know where to look.

Ireland have the same teams as last year, so I've used last year's photos (I can't find any for this year). They only deserve half-size photos.

Ireland Men - Bill Gray, David Whyte, Neil Fyfe and Ross Barr with Johnjo Kenny

Ireland Women - Louise Kerr, Nina Clancy, Bernie Gillett and Dale Sinclair

Wales have issued a new photo for this year. The daffy Welsh have leeked (see what I did there - twice) their games schedule as part of their photo. No, it's not their world tour dates!

Wales Men - Andrew Tanner, Richard Pougher, Alistair Reid and George Fyffe
Reading the Welsh Curling website, the team line-up might be Andrew, Richard, George and Alistair. No doubt time will tell.

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MEN
Wales finished off the last post, so they can start this one. Tomorrow's opening game is against Norway in Group A at 07.00, with their second one on Sunday at 11.00 against Canada. Two tough ones to start with for Wales, but the other games should be winnable, certainly easier.

Also playing at the same time tomorrow are Scotland, who take on New Zealand, and Ireland, who play Germany, both in Group B. On Sunday the Scots play Germany at 15.00, while the Irish take on Poland in the same session.

In Group C England play Switzerland at 19.00 tomorrow, then Latvia on Sunday, also at 19.00.

The top two from each of four Groups advance to the Quarter-finals on Friday afternoon.

I'm thinking these will be played off between Canada, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland, United States, Czechia and Sweden, with Wales and England having a decent outside chance.

WOMEN
England and Scotland are both in Group C, with the Sassenachs playing United States tomorrow at 11.00 and then New Zealand at 07.00. The Scots play Denmark at 11.00 tomorrow, followed by United States at 07.00 on Sunday.

Ireland are in Group B, playing against Latvia at 15.00 tomorrow and Hong Kong at 15.00 on Sunday.

The Quarter-finals are being played on Thursday night. There's nothing shown on the website, but I'm presuming that the top two from each of the three Groups will qualify, along with the two best 3rd placed teams making 8. See where a state education can get you - no universities required.

My tips for the Quarter-finals would be Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland and United States, with Ireland and England sneaking in at the death.

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MEN
A shocking start to the week for the Home Nations, with only Ireland managing a win out of the 8 games. They were well beaten 3-9 by Germany, skipped by the wonderfully named Andy Kapp. They then redeemed themselves today by beating Poland 8-3.

England suffered two defeats, firstly against Switzerland by an almost unbelievable score of 1-17, then by Latvia by only 6-7.

Scotland were hardly any better, losing 3-5 to New Zealand, followed by a defeat against high-flying Germany by 4-8.

Wales had a really difficult first couple of games, losing 2-7 against Norway and 4-11 against Canada.
It's highly likely that England, Scotlandand Wales will need to win their remaining 3 games to qualify.

The Monday games are Ireland v Nigeria, Poland v Scotland at 11.00, Estonia v England at 15.00 and Croatia v Wales at 19.00.

WOMEN
It's much better news from the Women's event with 5 wins out of 6 for the Home Nations.

England squeezed through against United States, scoring in each of the last 4 ends after being 1-5 down at the halfway stage, to win 6-5. They then won 7-3 against New Zealand, after scoring in each of the last 5 ends. A formidable resilience from the English ladies.

Scotland did much the same, trouncing Denmark 14-4, scoring 11 shots in the final 4 ends and beating United States 6-3 after 7 ends.

Ireland beat Latvia 6-5 after an extra end, needing 3 shots in the last 2 ends to force the extra end. They were then defeated 3-8 by Hong Kong in their second game.

Tomorrow's games are Ireland v Sweden at 07.00 and the meeting of The Auld Enemies, England v Scotland at 15.00.

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MEN
In a very strange high-scoring game against Nigeria, Ireland eventually won "easily" by 15-8. They were only 7-6 ahead after 4 ends but pulled away emphatically.

Scotland had a healthy lead against Poland, but lost 3 shots in the 7th end to make life difficult for themselves, but still winning 8-5.

England lost the last 5 ends played to go down 2-8 versus Estonia and are still to put a win on the board.

Wales got their first win against Croatia, winning by 7-3 in a low-scoring game.

Tomorrow's games are Belgium v England at 07.00, Scotland v Ireland plus Finland v Wales at 15.00. Those games will sort out a lot of the Group tables before the final day's play.

WOMEN
Ireland lost out against Sweden by 4-8, although the two teams were tied at 4-4 with 2 ends to play.

In the main game of the day, England lost out against Scotland by 6-9. The final score doesn't reflect the competitiveness of the game, as the English ladies had another remarkable recovery to score 4 shots in the 7th end to tie the game at 6-6.

Denmark play England, Estonia play Ireland, then Australia play Scotland, all at 19.00 tomorrow. If the results all go our way, then both the English and Scottish teams should be favourites to progress with the Irish ladies in a good position to join them.

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MEN
Once again, England had a poor finish to a game, this time against Belgium, losing 4-10. They had only been 4-6 down after 5 ends but failed to score in the following 3 ends and are in danger of going out without a whimper.

Scotland, on the other hand, had a controlled win by 7-3 over Ireland to keep in with a chance of progression. Both teams have 2 wins and 2 losses and, as Germany have already qualified on 4 wins, there is only room for one more from Group B.

In Group A, Wales had led 6-4 against Finland, but slipped away in the last couple of ends to lose 6-8.

Tomorrow's last day of Round Robin play for the Home Nations has Wales playing Denmark and Scotland playing Nigeria, both at 07.00. Then England take on United States at 11.00, followed by Wales against Phillipines at 15.00. Ireland finish off by playing New Zealand at 19.00 in the final session. The Quarter-finals are not due to be played until Friday at 11.00.

WOMEN
Once again, England had a remarkable recovery in their game against Denmark. Losing 0-2 after the first end, they scored in 5 successive ends to win easily by 11-2 with 2 ends to play, and are currently 2nd in Group C, looking good to progress.

In Group B, Ireland recorded an equally impressive win by 9-3 over Estonia, also after 6 ends.

To complete the 6-end victories for the Home Nations, Scotland beat Australia 10-3, courtesy of winning the first 4 ends to lead 10-0, to qualify for the later stages from Group C.

In tomorrow's games, Ireland play Switzerland at 11.00, both teams needing to win to stand any chance of qualifying. In the late session at 19.00, England play Australia and Scotland play New Zealand. Their Quarter-finals will be played on Thursday at 18.00.

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MEN
Scotland beat Nigeria 11-4 this morning to confirm their qualification from Group B behind Germany. The other qualifiers are Canada, Norway, Switzerland, United States, Sweden and Czechia. Only Ireland let me down, being replaced by Germany.

Talking of the Irish, they were beaten by New Zealand 3-9 after 7 ends and finished 4th in Group B.

Wales beat Philippines by the convincing score of 9-1 to finish in 6th place in Group A.

England lost 5-10 against United States and finished winless in 6th place in Group C.

The Quarter-final ties will take place at 13.00 on Friday and are Sweden v Czechia, Canada v Norway, Switzerland v United States and Germany v Scotland. The Semi-finals will be at 19.00 that night.

WOMEN
In their game Ireland were beaten 6-8 by Switzerland after a great recovery saw them come from 1-6 down after 4 ends to level at 6-6 at 7 ends, before losing the last end. They finished in 5th place in Group B.

In Group C, England beat Australia 8-4, scoring 3 shots in the 7th end to secure the win, and Scotland beat New Zealand 9-1 after 6 ends, scoring in the first 5 ends. Both teams have qualified for the Quarter-finals.

They will be played at 18.00 tomorrow and are Sweden v Switzerland, England v Lithuania, Canada v Latvia and Scotland v Japan. I got Ireland and United States wrong, being replaced by Latvia and Lithuania.

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WOMEN
Sad to say, England suffered a major defeat tonight. After scoring 1 shot in the first end, they lost 5 in the next and didn't score again to concede the game to Lithuania after 6 ends, with the score at 1-11. They've had a good run, though, and won 4 games out of the 6 played. Well done, ladies.

On a happier note, Scotland finished strongly to win 5-4 against Japan, after being 2-4 down after 5 ends.

Tomorrow's Semi-finals at 18.00 are Switzerland v Lithuania and Canada v Scotland. The Finals are at 09.30 on Saturday.

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MEN
Scotland faltered in their Quarter-final against Germany, going down 4-9 after only 6 ends. They were going along quite nicely until they lost a disastrous score of 5 shots in the 6th end, conceding the game.

The other Quarter-final results ended in Semi-finals of United States v Germany and Canada v Sweden. The Americas triumphed in both games by 10-4 and 9-6 respectively. The Gold Medal Game between United States and Canada plus the Bronze Medal Game between Germany and Sweden both take place at 09.30 tomorrow.

Scotland have had a mixed week of results and that perhaps affected their confidence. They won 3 games and lost 3 games in a disappointing performance.

WOMEN
In the Semi-finals the winners were in control all the way through their games. Canada beat Scotland 10-3 after 7 ends and Lithuania beat Switzerland 5-2 at the 8th end. The Scots lost 4 shots in the 2nd end against Canada and were in trouble from then on, but still have a strong chance to earn a Bronze Medal. Both Medal Games take place at 09.30 tomorrow.

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MEN
The Medal Games turned out to be totally different, but equally close. In the Bronze Medal Game the first 2 ends were 4 to Germany, followed by 5 to Sweden. It settled down a little bit after that, but Sweden scored 3 shots with last stone in the last end to win Bronze by 11-9.

The Gold was won by Canada by only 4-3 against United States. Canada made sure of retaining last stone for the last end, which they used to full effect.

GOLD - Canada
SILVER - United States
BRONZE - Sweden

WOMEN
In the Bronze Medal Game, Scotland scored single shots in ends 4, 5 and 6 to open up a gap to keep Switzerland at bay, eventually winning 6-3 after 7 ends.

From as early as the 2nd end in the Gold Medal Game, Canada were in control against Lithuania, winning 7-3, also at the 7th end, after being 6-1 ahead at the 5th end.

GOLD - Canada
SILVER - Lithuania
BRONZE - Scotland (It's nice to have a bit of colour)


Double World Champions - Canada