TEAM Mouat are in pole position to reach the latter stages of the World Men’s Curling Championship.
The Scots – who have Dumfries’ Grant Hardie and Wigtownshire’s Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan Jr in the rink – sit joint second in the round-robin table.
The world number one have five wins and one surprise defeat – by the Czech Republic team currently ranked 31st in the world.
However, the team bounced back with a 9-7 victory over Italy. The Scots were due to take on Switzerland last night.
After the Italy win, skip Bruce Mouat said: “Last night we were really disappointed with ourselves, not bouncing back after a really good game against Canada. So, reset for today.
“We’ve got some tough games coming up over the next couple of days, so we’re just going to have to re-focus and make sure we’re ready.”
Scotland are due to play Norway, Sweden, USA, Germany and China and will need a few wins to make sure they make the top six in the standings. The top six after the round robin stage qualify for the play-offs at the weekend.
Olympic qualifying points gained from last year’s championships will be added to this year’s final total, with the top seven sides gaining qualification for Milan-Cortina in 2026, along with hosts Italy.