MacDonald back at curling worlds but it's a bittersweet start
BySportsbeat
Published 29/03/2014 at 17:16 GMT
Scottish skip Ewan MacDonald admitted it was great to be back playing at the World Men's Curling Championships but his return to the ice in Beijing was bittersweet.
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Image credit: Eurosport
MacDonald is a three-time world champion but hasn't competed on the global stage since the last of those in Canada in 2009 where he was third on David Murdoch's rink.
Murdoch's Olympic silver-medal winning rink from Sochi 2014 aren't eligible to compete in Beijing with the responsibility upon MacDonald and his team in the Far East.
MacDonald's rink got off to the worst possible start as they lost 8-4 to Sweden first up, giving up a score of three in the first end and conceding the match in the eighth.
And, while delighted to be back playing at the World Championships, MacDonald knows his rink can ill-afford a repeat of their opening match if they are to compete in Beijing.
"That was a bit disappointing, not the start we were looking for. You always like to come to this event and get a good one under your belt and get some momentum," he said.
"We struggled a little bit with the ice but we'll re-group and come back. Losing a three in the first end didn't help. We were unlucky there, I clipped a guard and that was it.
"It's great to be back at the worlds, it's been a few years. We had a really good week at the Scottish but we struggled there. The ice caught us out for the first couple of ends."
The Scottish rink sat out the second session on the opening day which saw Sweden win again, defeating USA 8-6 while Germany also made it two from two.
Swedish skip Oskar Eriksson is bidding to repeat Niklas Edin's gold medal winning efforts from last year while Canada, the Czech Republic and Norway all won their only match.
© Sportsbeat 2014
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