Mixed fortunes for Scots in European Championships

The Scottish men’s team started the third day of play in the Le Gruyère European Championships here in Moscow with a solid 8-7 win over defending champions Norway but later came down with a bump by losing to the Czech Republic by 4-8.

In between these games, Eve Muirhead led the Scottish women to an important 7-5 victory over Germany, a win that keeps them in strong contention for a place in the medal games at the weekend. Later, the Scottish women beat Italy by 5-4 to move into joint second place on their table, alongside Russia and behind unbeaten leaders Sweden and second-placed Denmark.

Against Norway the Scottish men gave up a score of four in the fourth end to go 3-6 down, but they fought back to level the score by the eighth, when they stole two shots as Norwegian skip Thomas Ulsrud’s final shot wrecked on the way in.

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The Scots kept Norway to just one shot in the ninth and then a complete miss by Ulsrud in the tenth gave Scotland two shots and a win. In contrast to this stellar performance, the Scottish men struggled later against the Czech Republic. The Czechs got stronger as the game went on, scoring two in the seventh and three in the ninth for their victory.

Although not helpful, this loss is not fatal to the Scottish men’s cause. They share fourth place with Norway and Switzerland, just one win behind joint leaders Denmark, Germany and Sweden. They play Denmark and then Latvia today. Muirhead’s women’s team produced a solid performance in beating Germany yesterday. The Scots had the dream start when Muirhead’s final shot draw produced three shots. Germany fought back and by the seventh it was 5-5. However, the Scots played the eighth well, scoring with a nose-hit for two. Germany blanked the ninth and, in the tenth, Muirhead tapped out a solitary German stone in the house to win.

The Scottish women face Russia next.