[ritchiebaby]

This year's Seniors championships are being held in Centre Sportif de Sous-Moulin, Geneva, Switzerland from 23rd to 30th April and are run in conjunction with the Mixed Doubles.

Men's Teams: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United States. These 21 teams have been split into 3 Groups -
Group A - Australia, Canada, Finland, Italy, Slovakia, Turkey and United States
Group B - Czech Republic, England, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden
Group C - Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Nigeria, New Zealand and Scotland

England are represented by John Brown (Skip), Steve Amann (Vice-Skip), Martin Gregory (Second) and Andrew Robbins (Lead), with Thomas Campbell as Alternate.
Ireland's team consists of Johnjo Kenny (Skip), Bill Gray (Vice-Skip), David Whyte (Second) and Neil Fyfe (Lead) plus Alternate Ross Barr. John Jo Kenny, Bill Gray and David Whyte won Gold in 2012.
Scotland have Keith Prentice (Skip), John Davie (Vice-Skip), John Dowell (Second), Michael Ferguson (Lead) and Alternate Robert Anderson. Keith is from my local ice rink and he skipped the Scots to Gold in 2007 with a different team.

Women's Teams: Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and United States. These 13 teams have been split into 2 Groups as follows -
Group A - Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Sweden
Group B - England, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Switzerland and United States

England's team for this year (4 of them are from my local ice rink) are Judith Dixon (Skip), Angela Wilcox (Vice-Skip), Helen Forbes (Second) and Deborah Higgins (Lead) with Alternate Joan Reed.
Ireland's representatives are Dale Sinclair (Skip), Louise Kerr (Vice-Skip), Bernie Gillett (Second) and Clare McCormick (Lead)
Scotland's players are Mairi Milne (Vice-Skip, playing 4th), Edith Hazard (Skip, playing 3rd), Wendy Johnston (Second), Katie Loudon (Lead) and Alternate Jackie Lockhart.

[ritchiebaby]

Seniors Part Deux starts with the Scotland team photos.

 

After a fair bit of hunting around I've found a photo of the England Senior Ladies



And a photo of the Ireland Senior Men



I'll do a bit more hunting around tomorrow, as well as trying to find out why I can't resize the Scottish photos.

[Lord Snooty]

Good hunting, Rich.

[ritchiebaby]

Just as well I'm not called Will!

[ritchiebaby]

Canada Men are the defending Champions from 2019 with a different team from this year, although the current team skipped by Wade White did win in 2018. The Sweden team skipped by Mats Wranaa are also previous winners in 2016 and 2017.

The weekend games involving the home countries, including another early home derby, are as follows -
Saturday
England - v Ireland at 08.00
Ireland - v England at 08.00 and Hungary at 16.00
Scotland - v Germany at 12.00
Sunday
England - v Sweden at 14.00
Ireland - No Games
Scotland - v Nigeria at 19.00

In the Women's event, Canada are also the defending Champions from 2019 and are represented by the same team skipped by Sherry Anderson, who also won in 2018. The Scottish alternate player, and BBC Olympic commentator, Jackie Lockhart was a previous winner in 2016.

The weekend games involving the home countries, including a home derby on Sunday, are as follows -
Saturday
England - v United States at 16.00
Ireland - v Sweden at 16.00
Scotland- v Canada at 08.00
Sunday
England - No Games
Ireland - v Scotland at 14.00
Scotland - v Ireland at 14.00

[ritchiebaby]

It might seem strange for an African country sitting just above the Equator to have a curling team, but curling has always been open to all and other hot countries like Brazil and Kuwait have been curling for years. Nigeria's Senior Men are skipped by Tijani Cole, who only started curling around 5 years ago with his wife in Denver, USA.



This is the official logo for the Nigerian Curling Federation team.

It's been easier to find out about Nigeria than some of the other participants, but I've found this photo of John Brown, obviously a big cheese in English Curling, who is the English skip for this year's Championships

[ritchiebaby]

The competition got underway this morning with Ireland Men defeating England Men by 9-2, courtesy of scores of 3 shots in the 2nd and 7th ends. In the same session Scotland Women disposed of Canada Women by 8-2, finishing with 4 shots in the 7th end.

In the second session, Scotland Men were beaten 4-5 by Germany Men, led by the veritable Andy Kapp, with the lead changing hands several times.

The third session saw 3 home teams in action - Ireland Men lost 4-6 against Hungary Men, scoring only 1 shot after the 2nd end. Ireland Women started their campaign with a 7-3 win against Sweden Women by scoring 5 shots in the last 3 ends. Then England Women suffered a 4-11 beating from United States. The English team lost 3 shots in the 2nd end and 5 shots in the 6th end to leave the Americans on Easy Street.

[ritchiebaby]

England Men received a beating from Sweden this afternoon, losing by 3-10 and conceding after 6 ends.

Ireland Women lost heavily 2-10 to Scotland Women, who, like their Mixed Doubles team, finished strongly with 4 shots in the 5th end and 3 shots in the 6th end to seal the game.

Scotland Men beat Nigeria by the almost unbelievable score of 21-3, including 3 counts of 5 shots. Unfortunately, Nigeria will be on the wrong end of some chastening scorelines this week, but I think being in with "the big boys" will be their reward for their commitment and vision.

Tomorrow's games involving the Home Countries are -
Men
England v Czech Republic at 4pm
Ireland v Norway at 8am
Scotland v Latvia at 8am and Belgium at 4pm

Women
England v Latvia at 12 noon
Ireland v Denmark at 12 noon and Canada at 8pm
Scotland v Italy at 8pm

[ritchiebaby]

Ireland Men gained a win early this morning, beating Norway Men 8-7. The Irish were down at 3-6 after 5 ends and came right back into it with 4 shots in the 6th end and 1 shot in the 7th end, holding on for the win.
Scotland Men comfortably disposed of Latvia Men by 9-2 in the same session. Their game against Belgium Men in the afternoon session was a totally different affair, Scotland eventually winning 7-6 after an extra end. They were never ahead until the 7th end, thereby securing the last stone in the extra end.
Also in this session, England Men suffered another defeat, this time by 4-7 against Czech Republic Men.

In the Women's Event, England lost 3-5 to Slovakia in a tight game of single shots, and losing 3 shots in the final 3 ends.
Ireland dominated in a 14-1 win against Denmark, scoring 12 shots in the first 4 ends, but tonight they lost 6-7 to Canada, in a game where the lead changed hands several times.
Scotland defeated Italy 9-5, after being held to 3-3 at the 4th end.

Tomorrow's games involving the Home Countries are -
Men
England v Switzerland at 8pm
Ireland v Sweden at 4pm
Scotland No Games

Women
England v Finland at 12 noon
Ireland v No Games
Scotland v Czech Republic at 4pm

Wednesday's games are -
Men
England v No Games
Ireland v Switzerland at 12 noon
Scotland v Denmark at 4pm

Women
England v Switzerland at 4pm
Ireland v Italy at 8am
Scotland v Denmark at 8am

I've found photos of the "missing" teams on FaceAche
England Men

Ireland Women

[ritchiebaby]

Because of the catch-up required, this post is being split into each country's and team's results.

ENGLAND MEN lost to Switzerland 2-10. Their final 2 games tomorrow are against Hungary and Norway.

ENGLAND WOMEN beat Finland 6-5 and lost to Switzerland by 2-7 and still have Lithuania to play tomorrow.

IRELAND MEN lost to Sweden by 3-10 and lost to Switzerland by 5-7. Their remaining game is against Czech Republic.

IRELAND WOMEN beat Italy by 13-0 (yes, honestly) and have Czech Republic to play tomorrow in their final game, still in with a slim chance of proceeding to the Play-offs.

SCOTLAND MEN beat Denmark 8-7 after an extra end to guarantee their qualification for the later stages. They play New Zealand in their remaining game tomorrow.

SCOTLAND WOMEN beat Czech Republic by 5-4 and then beat Denmark 11-2, also guaranteeing their qualification. They finish their programme against Sweden.