Dumfries and Galloway curlers in first day of Olympic action
Four people from Dumfries and Galloway have taken to the ice today for their first day in action with the Team GB curling squads at the Winter Olympics.
Vicky Wright, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan - all of whom are from Stranraer - and Dumfries' Grant Hardie all competed in Beijing.
Vicky is part of the Team GB women's team and their quest for medals got off to a bad start as the Great Britain women's team suffered a 6-5 extra-end defeat to Switzerland.
The women bounced back in their second game of the day when they took on defending Olympic gold medalists Sweden with an 8-2 victory.
Teammate and skip Eve Muirhead said: “I’m absolutely delighted with that performance and I think that shows what a team we can be.
“This morning I felt like we played well. We maybe just missed a few shots here and there and needed to sharpen up to beat Sweden and I think we did that and more.
“So we really have set a pretty high marker for ourselves, but I for sure think we can maintain that, because all season we have.
“I couldn’t have asked for any more from the girls. The team played fantastic, the communication was great, the support was great and I’m very proud of them."
She believes her inexperienced squad has the right mentality to move into contention for one of the top four play-off slots.
The men meanwhile played once, in a successful match against Italy.
Despite a shaky start, they were able to take victory, ending up the eventual winners with 7-5 the final score.
They will be back in action tomorrow, when they take on the USA.