Battle to become curling Masters

The Mercure City of Perth Masters swept into life at the Dewars Centre yesterday.

World-class teams from across the globe are all battling for supremacy at an event which continues to be a favourite in the sporting calendar.

One of the teams in action is 2017 world senior curling champions Team Wranå, from Sweden.

And while they see themselves as the‘old-timers’, there remains a desire to advance into the latter stages of the tournament.

Led by skip Mats Wranå, the Scandinavians arrived in Perth on Wednesday before getting their campaign underway on Thursday afternoon.

It’s their second visit to the Masters and Mats said:“It’s a really nice tournament and the ice conditions are very good.

“It was the Olympic year last time and we met a lot of teams who were going to the Olympics - and that was really nice.

“We have a better chance this year to get further in the tournament, I think.

“I don’t think we will go all the way but it would be nice if we made it to the play-offs. It is really difficult.

“We have been playing some tournaments in Sweden and our form has been quite good.

“We won one tournament and were the runners-up in the other. This is the fourth season playing together. Before we

used to play against each other.”

Recently-crowned European champions Team Mouat, ranked number five in the world, are bidding to add the Mercure City of Perth Masters title to their CV for the first time.

“We have had some great highs in our first half of the season,”said skip Bruce Mouat, who hails from Edinburgh.

“And we are looking forward to taking on the second half starting at the Perth Masters.

“As usual they have secured a strong field and we are hoping to start off with a good performance.

“We have a busy January ahead with some exciting competitions before the Scottish Championships, where we will be aiming to retain our title.”

Turn to page 40 to read the thoughts of Perth curlers Robin Brydone and Callum Kinnear ahead of getting started yesterday.