Curling Smith pleased with team’s Olympic run
Wins against Switzerland and Japan for Shire ace
Perthshire curler Kyle Smith was taking the positives from a productive opening to the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
The Guildtown skip guided his team of brother Cammy, Thomas Muirhead and Kyle Waddell to a nail-biting 6-5 day one victory against Switzerland.
There was a similar scenario on day two when Smith again held his nerve to draw his final stone for another 6-5 win over Japan.
Those results were sandwiched by a 6-4 defeat to Canada but this was a strong Team GB debut for the former Perth Academy pupil.
Speaking after their opening match victory against the Swiss, Smith said: “It doesn’t get much better than that.
“I’m really pleased, we played well and we ground out the win. You can’t get off to a better start than that.
“It was a game where both teams were trying to get a feel for the ice and the conditions. There were maybe a couple more mistakes than there would be normally from both of our teams.
“But we held it together. It was always going to be a close game against them, they are a very good team and it went to the wire.”
The defeat to the Canadians was a tough one to take for Smith, who after a slow start had worked his way back into the contest.
“It’s disappointing to have our first loss of the tournament,” he said.
“We didn’t start very well and were playing one of the best teams in the world defending a lead.
“We played a really good sixth end and we managed to create a steal which narrowed the gap a little bit and then the force in end seven.
“It was just a pity we couldn’t convert our two with the hammer in the eighth to tie the game up. They ran us out of stones in the end.
“There’s just a few lessons for us to learn about different bits of the sheet and how we can throw the rock and that’s something we will discuss with our coach.”
Meanwhile, back in Perth, the Scottish National Championships reach a conclusion at Dewars Centre this weekend.
Leading the Fair City charge in the mens has been Team Kinnear who, due to work commitments, have been missing usual skip Callum Kinnear.
The team, including Perth’s Matthew McKenzie and Duncan McFadzean, Kyle Smith at the opening day of men’s curling in PyeongChang and (inset) Duncan McFadzean in action at the Scottish Curling Championships
were yesterday attempting to navigate out of the round robin group stage.
McFadzean said: “We’ve got more wins than we initially thought so it was a good start for us.
“We’re underdogs being a junior team and that takes the pressure off of us a little bit. We have been able to play with a lot of freedom.
“We all trust each other to make shots in this team. There is a really good dynamic.
“Callum’s work can get in the way sometimes so we need to work around it.
“But we know Luke Carson and have played with him before. I used to play with him three or four years ago.”
Team Kinnear recorded a confidenceboosting victory against Team Brewster earlier in the week, whose skip Tom Brewster is an Olympic medallist.
McFadzean added: “Team Brewster are a big team with a lot of experience. But in that game we started to string ends together and the whole team played well. It gives you loads of confidence.
“The ice has been perfect. We’ve certainly been getting used to it and reading it better. We managed the sheet really well against Brewster.”
In the women’s event, Team Jackson, whose line-up includes Guildtown’s Mili Smith, topped the round robin stage to comfortably book their place in Friday’s semi-final.
The women’s final is scheduled to take place at 11am on Saturday followed by the men at 4pm.