Double blow for Team Muirhead at Euros

Eve Muirhead suffered a double setback at the European Championships in Tallinn yesterday.

The Perthshire skip and her team-mates Lauren Gray, Vicki Chalmers and Jennifer Dodds lost 10-4 to gold medal favourite Anna Hasselborg of Sweden before going down 8-7 to Czech Anna Kubeskova.

The Courier columnist and her team began their title defence with a 7-4 round-robin victory over Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont in only their 16th match since Muirhead’s return from hip surgery.

Despite beating Hasselborg in last year’s final, Muirhead described Sweden’s world and Olympic champions as “undoubtedly the best team in the world”, and they lived up to their billing.

The Scots led after the first end and were still in touch at 3-2 down when they conceded three stones at the sixth end.

They closed the gap to 6-4 but then lost a four at the ninth as the Swedes completed a 10-4 win.

“I don’t think the final score reflects the game as it was,” said Muirhead. “It was a very good match with a lot of very good shots. ”

In the evening match, a three at the penultimate end drew the Scots level, but Kubeskova sealed the win at the 10th.

Muirhead’s brothers Glen and Thomas proved more successful at the Red Deer Classic in Alberta as they and team-mates Kyle and Cammy Smith eased through to today’s quarterfinals.

Victories over Aaron Sluchinski (6-1) and Josh Heidt (8-4) set up a last-16 meeting against 2008 champion Ted Appelman, and the Scots opened up an early 5-1 lead before going on to win 6-4.