The British Paralympic Association (BPA) has announced five Scottish wheelchair curlers to represent ParalympicsGB at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. The Paralympic Winter Games take place from March 9-18.
Four of the team that claimed bronze at Sochi 2014 are returning to the Paralympic stage with skip Aileen Neilson contesting her third Games, Gregor Ewan and Robert McPherson making their second appearances, while Angie Malone MBE is set to take part in her fourth Games.
Malone has competed at every Games since the sport made its debut at Turin in 2006. She won silver on that occasion, as well as bronze in Sochi, making her GB’s most decorated Paralympic curler.
Hugh Nibloe is set to make his Games debut
The team will compete at the Gangeung Curling Centre in PyeongChang, the venue where the same group claimed a bronze medal for Scotland at the Wheelchair Curling World Championships in 2017.
Aileen Neilson said: “I’m delighted to be leading this team into the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. We have all worked so hard over this cycle and are ready to return to Paralympic competition to take on the best in the world.
“We know the venue well after the World Championships and I am confident that the experience and resilience in this team means that we can go and perform at a very high level.”
Hugh Nibloe said: “It’s incredibly exciting to be selected to represent ParalympicsGB at my first Paralympic Winter Games. We have a really positive team dynamic and have enjoyed a really encouraging start to the season, beating many of our strongest rivals.
“We’ve proven that we can compete at the highest level and we’re heading to Korea to show exactly what we can do.”
The news increases the Scottish representation at the Games to six, following the announcement of Glasgow’s Brett Wild, who will guide Millie Knight in Para-skiing.
Selected Wheelchair Curlers:
Gregor Ewan, 46, Elgin
Angie Malone MBE, 52, Glasgow
Robert McPherson, 49, Bellshill
Aileen Neilson MBE, 45, Strathaven
Hugh Nibloe, 35, Stranraer