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The ten women’s teams are from Belgium, Croatia, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine and Wales.

The eight participating men’s teams are: Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Israel, Romania and Slovenia.

The event will be played at the Dumfries Ice Bowl (next to QOTS stadium, Palmerston Park), which is a multi-sport facility, with a six-sheet curling rink and dedicated ice hockey and skating rink. Round-robin play will run from Sunday 28 April until Friday 3 May. On Saturday 4 May at 9:00 semi-finals will take place. In these semi-finals the first-placed teams will play the fourth-ranked teams, while the second-placed teams will meet the third-ranked teams in both genders. The winners will play in the gold medal games and the gold medal winners will qualify for the European Curling Championships 2024 B-Division. The losers will play in the bronze medal games. All medal games will be played on Saturday afternoon at 14:30.


Wales' team consists of Anna Carruthers (Lead), Emily Simpson (Second), Judith Glazier (Third) and Laura Beever (Skip).

I won't bother with their playing schedule as the Welsh Curling Association have again helpfully included it in the photograph. Other associations take note. 

[ritchiebaby]

Wales got off to a perfect start today, in a comfortable win over Croatia by 9-3 after only 6 ends. They have Ukraine and Spain, both of whom won today, to play tomorrow and we'll get a good idea of Wales' form after those games.

[ritchiebaby]

Wales' World (they were not worthy) suffered a major reverse this morning with a 3-10 loss against Ukraine. Losing 4 shots in the 4th end, while being 2 down, was too much to recover from.

The recovery did come in this evening's game against Spain, courtesy of a 6-5 win featuring a last stone draw for the victory.

Now the Welsh team have a chance to consolidate their position against Netherlands tomorrow.

[ritchiebaby]

Back to mid-table for Wales today after their defeat to Netherlands by 3-6. Each end was tight all the way, but once the Dutch opened up a small gap to lead by 3 shots at the 4th end, they were clinical in restricting the Welsh team to single shots.

After the game against unbeaten Slovakia tomorrow morning, Wales then play the other teams around them or below them, where they should have chances to win the games required to reach the last 4.

[ritchiebaby]

Still mid-table for Wales much as expected, with 3 wins and 3 losses. Their defeat against Slovakia this morning was predictable, but the Welsh ladies restricted the score to 7-8 and had the gall to score 4 shots in the 7th end to lead 7-5. Unfortunately they lost 3 shots in the last end to fall narrowly short.

Running one of the top teams to such a close game gave Wales the confidence to dominate their game against Roumania, despite a stutter in the 2nd end, eventually winning 11-3 after 6 ends.

Wales now have the chance to improve that mid-table position with a game against Portugal tomorrow (now today as I type).

[ritchiebaby]

Wales came through a really tough game against Portugal with a 5-4 win. Allied to Ukraine's defeat of Spain, this leaves Wales in equal 4th alongside Spain. That doesn't really matter as if the Welsh ladies tie with Spain at the end of the Round Robin, they move ahead, courtesy of their win on Monday night.

Two games tomorrow which will round off the Qualifying Section, firstly against France, then Belgium. Both are winnable, so come on Wales, you can do it.

[ritchiebaby]

Wales beat France 7-6 in a nervy game, nervy because the Welsh ladies were comfortably in command at 7-1 after 5 ends, but lost the last 3 ends to scrape through. Thanks to Spain losing once again, the win meant that Wales qualified for the Semi-finals before they played their final game.

In the last game against Belgium with all the pressure off, they cruised through 6-1 after 6 ends, giving them 6 wins from 9 games.

The Semi-final Draw is Slovakia v Wales and Netherlands v Ukraine, both games at 09.00 tomorrow. Both Medal Games will take place at 14.30 tomorrow.

The other 3 teams gave Wales their 3 defeats, but if there's ever a time to put that right, it's tomorrow.

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Nothing to do with my team talk, but Wales absolutely dominated Slovakia right from the start with 3 shots in the 1st end and 4 shots in the 2nd to run out convincing winners by 11-1 after only 6 ends. They are now guaranteed a Medal and the same attitude and application later this afternoon against Netherlands would give them a great chance of the Gold.

Come on Wales, do the business!

[ritchiebaby]

This afternoon's Final was the exact(ish) opposite to the Semi-final as far as Wales is concerned. They lost 3 shots in the 1st end, followed by 5 shots in the 2nd. This deficit was far too much for any team to recover from and the Welsh ladies were beaten 3-10 after 6 ends.

GOLD - Netherlands
SILVER - Wales
BRONZE - Ukraine

However the Silver Medals for the ladies were probably beyond their expectations a week ago and our congratulations are due to them for a great performance. Photograph from the Welsh Curling FB page.

WALES with their Silver Medals - Anna Carruthers (Lead), Emily Simpson (Second), Judith Glazier (Third) and Laura Beever (Skip)


MEN'S GOLD - BULGARIA and WOMEN'S GOLD - NETHERLANDS