Dodds and Mouat off to the worlds
EDINBURGH curlers
Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat will represent Scotland at next month’s World Mixed Doubles Championship in Canada after winning a star-studded Scottish final at Perth’s Dewars Centre.
Mouat was chasing his fifth mixed title after claiming his third men’s crown at the same venue a fortnight ago, but standing in his way were Scott Andrews and Gina Aitken, with whom Mouat had won his previous four doubles titles.
Holder Aitken looked to be heading for her sixth mixed championship when she and Andrews led 4-2 after five ends, but Dodds and Mouat drew level at the sixth and then counted four stones at the seventh for an 8-4 victory.
The final proved to be a mirror image of yesterday morning’s 1 v 2 play-off which saw Aitken and Andrews rally from 4-2 down to beat Dodds and Mouat 11-6. The capital duo recovered to defeat local heroine Eve Muirhead and Mouat’s team-mate Bobby Lammie 8-5 in the semi-finals and still had enough left in the tank to lift themselves again for one last push the final.
Even before yesterday’s victory, Dodds and Mouat had a packed late-season schedule with the women’s and men’s World Championships taking place in Canada and Glasgow in the next five weeks.
“It’s going to be a really busy few weeks, but that’s what you play for,” said Dodds, who plays second in Eve Muirhead’s team.
“We just struggled to read the ice this morning and it caught us out a couple of times, but we got our confidence back for the final. The four [at the seventh end] took the pressure off a bit, although we still had to concentrate to the end.”
Mouat added: “It was pretty weird playing against Gina. She’s a very good friend going back to when we were seven years old. It was a tough situation for both of us, but you put friendships aside when you’re competing on the ice.
“We played three matches today and there was a lot of emotion invested in it as well. It was gruelling and tiring, but we started playing well after the break and we managed to put them under pressure and force some shots.”