Wheelchair curlers back on track with pair of wins

AILEEN Neilson says her Great Britain rink’s confidence has been restored after they got their quest for a Paralympic wheelchair curling medal back on track by beating two of the world’s top three sides in Sochi.

Neilson’s team had been dealt arguably the hardest start to the round-robin stage at the Ice Cube Curling Centre with matches against the three nations that made the podium at the Vancouver Games in 2010.

But, after losing to defending champions Canada and their skip Jim Armstrong on Saturday in Sochi, skip Neilson claimed Britain’s first win by defeating the world No 2 ranked side, Sweden. Having trailed 4-2 after five ends, Britain levelled things up at 4-4 in the sixth and then bagged one from each of the final two ends to seal a 6-4 win.

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They backed that up with an emphatic 8-4 victory over the Koreans – a fantastic seventh end yielding five points thanks to a takeout from none other than Neilson – something she admitted to having never done before for Britain at international level. And, with the British rink’s Sochi 2014 campaign firmly back on track after an early defeat, Neilson insists the group are well placed in the early stages of the wheelchair curling competition.

“Obviously, after Saturday, we were keen to come out and get a couple of Ws on the board and we managed to do that,” said Neilson. “We are really delighted and it gives us a lot of confidence. It was just about us doing what we do every day in training and bringing that onto the ice here, sticking to our process and it paid off.

“Against a lot of these teams you don’t get a lot of chances to get big wins or big ends so when that opportunity came we knew we were going for a two and if we got any more than that we knew it would be a bonus.

“We managed to capitalise and that is what you have to do when you get an opportunity and the team played really well and made my job easier. It really put the pressure on them, especially with one end left and then we made sure we kept it nice and clean in the last end.”

Britain next tackle the undefeated Slovakian rink, who have won all three of their games so far, this afternoon.

The only other Brit in action yesterday was seated alpine skier Mick Brennan in the men’s super-G – a day after British teammate Jade Etherington’s historic silver medal in the women’s downhill.

The 34-year-old, who lost both his legs in 2004 following a suicide bomb attack in Iraq, navigated the hazardous Rosa Khutor course to finish tenth in a time of 1:30.48minutes.

Temperatures in Sochi have been too warm for organisers to make artificial snow in order to improve the course, with 14 competitors crashing out in the seated-ski super-G.

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Brennan was also a doubt for the Sochi Games having been out injured for nine months of this season after suffering a broken sternum and then wrist. But, having made it to the starting gate and made a bright start to his Winter Paralympic debut, Brennan insists there can only be better things to come from his next three events.

“If you had offered me a top ten before the race started I would have jumped at the chance so I am really happy,” said Brennan. “The course deteriorated a lot because the heat hasn’t helped things but I had a plan put together.

“I maybe scrubbed off a little bit more on the steeper parts going into them but I didn’t know what it was going to be like and you can only react on what you’ve been told before. I could have let it go in a few places but I have had nine months out so I just wanted a solid performance, building up with three more events to go.

“It means a lot to the team because I have had a rough year, I have had so many ups and downs and in speed I am either all or nothing and nobody knew what Mick Brennan was going to come down. But the Mick Brennan that came down was confident and passive. I wish I had gone a bit harder but I am not disappointed.”

l Sainsbury’s is a proud long-term supporter of the British Paralympic Association and a champion of inclusive sport for all. For more information on Sainsbury’s commitment to inclusive sport visit: www.Sainsburys.co.uk/activekids

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