Wales Seniors’ 50% record from 4 games
Wales' Senior Men are keeping an even keel when it comes to results at the World Senior Curling Championships this week. Adrian Meikle, who is also playing in the World Mixed Doubles competition at the same time, has steered his team to victory over the Czech Republic on Saturday and Belgium yesterday. Despite losses to Switzerland (Friday) and Germany (Sunday) the Welsh Seniors are definitely having a good tournament so far, and their next match is against Russia.
Five men in mainly-white Wales curling uniforms
Wales' Senior men's team. (l-r): Alistair Reid (Alternate), Gary Waddell (Lead), Chris Wells (Second/Vice-skip), Richard Pougher (Third), Adrian Meikle (Skip).
Wales' Senior Men are keeping an even keel when it comes to results at the World Senior Curling Championships this week. Adrian Meikle, who is also playing in the World Mixed Doubles competition at the same time, has steered his team to victory over the Czech Republic on Saturday and Belgium yesterday. The team didn't have the best start to the competition, as they came up against Switzerland on Friday afternoon. Switzerland were Quarter-Finalists in 2015, and despite putting up a good fight Wales were defeated in a very close match. Wales started well, scoring 2 with the hammer in the first end, and leading 4-2 after four ends, but allowing Switzerland to take a 3 in the sixth end proved fatal, and the match was decided at 6-4 to Switzerland without the eighth end being completed. The win over the Czech Republic was a rather different affair, as Wales consistently scored against the hammer and took full advantage of last stone after the two ends the Czechs did score in, with the final score 7-3 to Wales. Against the Belgians on Sunday, Wales were fully in control of the match, despite having the last stone for just a single end. Taking two against the hammer in the first end was a great start, and at the half-way stage Wales were 5-1 up from four ends, but the real decider was the sixth end. Everything seemed to go well for Wales, and they took a score of 6 to put the match almost beyond Belgium's reach. Theoretically, Belgium could still have levelled the scores in the remaining two ends, but Wales took one shot in the seventh and so the teams shook hands with Wales 14-1 ahead. There was a quick turnaround for Wales on Sunday, as after just a few hours' rest they were up against Germany. Whether the back-to-back matches had any significant effect is difficult to tell, but Wales certainly had to battle in this game. The Germans had the last stone as the game began, but the first half of the match was all very tight, with both teams forced to take just a single shot with the hammer in the first three ends. Germany managed to apply some leverage in the fifth end though, taking a shot against the hammer to lead 3-1 after four ends. Wales had a good response, taking 2 shots in the fifth end, but that proved to be their final score of the match. Despite Germany being forced to blank the sixth end, and a very close finish as Wales took last-stone-advantage against a 1-shot deficit into the final end, it was Germany who emerged victorious 5-3. They are currently in play against Russia, and after two ends it is still anyone's game, as Russia lead by three shots to two.