At the start of April 2024, the Welsh Senior Men (Andrew, Richard, George and Alistair) travelled to Östersund in Sweden to represent Wales in the World Senior Curling Championships. The team finished the week on a record of two wins and four losses, against some very strong teams in their group.
Read below to see how they got on in each of their matches.
Game 1: Wales 2 - Norway 7
A good Welsh team performance wasn’t enough to prevent a loss to a strong Norwegian team. Some good ends and shots gave the team something to build on for the next game against Canada.
Games 2: Wales 4 - Canada 11
A difficult start put team Canada in the driving seat. A strong 3 from Wales in the third end helped bring Wales back into the contest. Some great shots and ends between both teams and a real chance of a steal for Wales in the last end eventually saw Canada run out 11-4 winners after 7 ends.
Game 3: Wales 7 - Croatia 3
A great Welsh team performance resulted in a win over Croatia 7-3. Croatia, having won 2 games already, had the hammer in the first end, but some good set ups and stone placement gave Wales 3 straight steals and then a force of 1, to go to the half time break with a 4-1 lead. Croatia stole 1 and then an exchange of singles left Wales 5-3 up going into the last end. A controlled end gave Wales the win without having to play the last stone.
Game 4: Wales 6 - Finland 8
Wales had a close game against Finland but ran out eventual losers 8-6. Wales had a real chance for a big score early on but unfortunately couldn’t convert it, but they battled to a 6-4 lead by the 6 end. A 3 for Finland in the 7th meant Wales needed a score in the last end. With a lot of stones in play Wales tried to unsuccessfully pick out the shot stone leaving a 1 for Finland.
Game 5: Wales 3 - Denmark 10
An exchange of ends left Denmark with a 4-3 lead at the halftime break. However, Denmark pulled away in the second half to win 10-3.
Game 6: Wales 9 - Philippines 1
Wales finish the World Senior Curling Championship with a convincing performance over a debutant Philippine team. Some great draw shot challenges (DSC) from both teams saw the Philippines get the hammer despite a fantastic 2.4cm DSC from Welsh third Richard Pougher.
Some great stone placement in the first half saw Wales put huge pressure on the Philippines leading to an 8-0 lead. An exchange of ends in the second half saw Wales run out 9-1 winners.
This capped off a great week of curling for Wales with some really close games and 2 wins.
