Scottish titles – and more – up for grabs

Defending champions Team Muirhead and Team Brewster are among the top rinks heading to Perth’s Dewars Centre this weekend when the Scottish Championships get under way.

The stakes are especially high this year as the winners of the national championships will go on to represent Scotland at the World Championships and those teams will also be aiming to qualify GB for the next Winter Olympics in PyeongChang in 2018.

Skip Eve Muirhead has won the national title six times and will be keen to see her team maintain the form they showed last month when they won the Glynhill Ladies International.

“We are really looking forward to the Scottish championships this year as the event is a very high priority event in our calendar,” said Muirhead, whose team claimed bronze at the European Championships.

The Olympic bronze medallists will be tested by up-and-coming Team Fleming whose season so far has seen them reach three finals at Stockholm, Red Deer Classic and Qinghai China International.

Scottish mixed doubles champion Gina Aitken skips another of the contenders, as does her younger sister Karina, while the team led by Hazel Smith includes Sarah Reid, lead for Muirhead’s rink when they won last year, and Claire Hamilton, a member of the bronze medal-winning team at the Sochi Olympics.

The men’s event also looks set to be a closely fought event with two rinks in the line up led by Olympic silver medallists in Sochi. Tom Brewster’s defending champions won the Perth Masters in January and the Karuizawa International at the end of last year.

Also keen to get their names on the silverware is Team Murdoch, the rink who reached the Olympic final in Sochi three years ago.

Another team in pursuit of the title are Team Smith who have made their mark on tour this season winning the Oakville OCT Classic and reaching their first Grand Slam final in Cranbrook.

World Junior champions Team Mouat are also among the challengers.

There are 10 men’s teams and seven women’s team in the tournament line-up.

Defending champions Tom Brewster and Eve Muirhead.