VANCOUVER DATE EASES WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS HEARTACHE

Feb 26 2008 Paisley Daily Express

WHEELCHAIR curling hero Michael McCreadie admitted his world championships disappointment in Switzerland has been eased slightly with the news that Scotland have qualified for the 2010 Paralympic Games in Vancouver.

McCreadie and his Scotland team of Aileen Neilson, Tom Killin, Jim Sellar and Rosemary Lenton failed to make the latter stages of the tournament in Sursee after a series of poor results.

Skipper Michael, who is a two times world champion from 2004 and 2005 and a bronze medallist from last year, and his Scottish team were one of the pre-tournament favourites, but costly defeats to Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Korea, USA, and Norway left their championship challenge in tatters.

In fact, Scotland’s three victories in the 10-nation tournament came at the expense of Russia, Japan and Canada.

The eventual gold medal winners were Norway, skipped by Rune Lorentson, whose team beat surprise package Korea 5-3 in the final.

However, the Scots secured four precious Paralympic Games qualification points in the Draw Shot Distance event, which means they have sealed their place for Vancouver 2010.

Michael, 61, said: “We’ve been on top for a while but it just wasn’t to be this time around and now we are down the pecking order.

“But we will learn from this experience and we will be all the more determined to do well next time around.

“The good thing is we have qualified for Vancouver 2010 and that’s what we will all be focussing on.”

The Lochwinnoch-based curler, who turns 62 next month, is also expected to play a big part in the run-up to Vancouver and has refused to entertain the possibility of retirement.

He said: “I’m committed to this long term and while I’m having a wee rest, in April it’s back to the gym at the David Lloyd for my strength and conditioning work.

“After that, I’ll look to do a couple of 10ks or a half marathon, then I’ll come back refreshed and ready to go.

“The most important thing for us now is to take the bumps and knocks that we received in Sursee, learn from them and make sure we cut them out of our game in the future.”

Ironically, Vancouver is the setting for next year’s World Championship event and Michael fully intends to lead the Scots out to glory once again.

He added: “In the long term, everything we do, whether it be the Scotland team or Team Great Britain, will be geared towards Vancouver in 2009 and the Winter Games there in 2010 and here’s hoping we can get things right for these events.”

A spokesperson for the Scotland team reflected on their world championship experience and said: “The ice conditions were proving difficult for many teams with some surprising results in the early encounters.

“Our team found the conditions difficult to handle and lost too many decisive ends during games which had them under pressure all too often.

“Some personnel changes later in the week gave the team enough impetus to finish strongly with two very important wins, one over Japan and the last game against Canada who were sitting in second spot.

“The win record of 3-6 reflected poorly on a very close and hard working group of players and their stats also showed they played well, yet could not convert the good play into the wins that were required.

“Their dedication and commitment to each other along with some excellent backing from the support staff kept the team working well together and we all look forward to challenging for the podium in Vancouver next year.”