A number of local curlers will be getting supported by British Curling through the 2021/22 season.
Dumfries player Ross Whyte and his team will be backed as well as Sophie Jackson who plays in Team Farmer.
British Curling announced the athletes they will be supporting this week.
Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone, Duncan McFadzean and Euan Kyle powered up the world rankings in their first season on the senior circuit in 2019/20 and while their opportunity to build on that was limited last season by the cancellation of most international events due to the pandemic, they showed excellent form domestically in reaching the final of every men’s event held in the National Curling Academy (NCA).
Ross said: “We were delighted to get selected and it is nice to get that recognition for all of the hard work we have been putting in since we first joined the men’s tour.
“Every member of our team is hungry for this opportunity and we know that we are just starting to show what we are capable of as a unit and we hope to get the chance to test our ability a bit further afield this year if the conditions and guidelines allow us to.
“Over the past year we have continued to push each other on within the programme and it was a great opportunity for me to experience a World Championships with Team Mouat.”
Whyte also won a World Championship silver medal as alternate for Team Mouat, who have dominated the Scottish and British game in the last two years and, after reaching that World Championship final in their first international event of last season, continued their sterling efforts by claiming historic back-to-back Grand Slam wins.
As the only British Curling line-up other than Whyte’s that remains unchanged heading into 2021/22, their combination of Bruce Mouat, Kirkgunzeon’s Grant Hardie and Stranraer’s Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan retains its place as the men’s podium team.
At the senior end of the women’s game, a squad system is being introduced involving the eight players who were categorised as podium and podium potential last season along with Hailey Duff, who steps up from Team Wilson last season, in a bid to maximise the chance of earning qualification for Team GB at next year’s Winter Olympics.
