Perse pupil keeps cool to secure English curling crown

Lina (Year 10) held her nerve to play the winning shot to earn her curling team the national title and a place at the world championships.

Her team will be competing at the World Curling Junior B Championships in Finland in December for the third year in a row, having completed a hat-trick of English junior women’s titles.

However, they were taken to the wire in the best-of-five match against their opponents at Preston’s Flower Bowl before Lina, who is vice-captain of the side, sealed the victory in nail-biting fashion.

Lina’s team, who are coached by her dad Michael, lost their first two games and despite clawing their way back to 2-2, it all boiled down to the final stone of the last end of the deciding game for them to come through.

She said: “We went in thinking we would do well because we’ve been together as a team for a long time and the other team were new, but they won the first two games so that meant we had to win the remaining games to win it.

“We managed to win the next two games, but it then all came down to the last stone of the game and fortunately I made it.

“I shed a few tears beforehand because I was scared about making the shot, knowing it would decide whether we would win and go to Finland or not, especially as this would be the last time we could go to the worlds because some of the other girls are getting to the junior age limit.

“I was very happy when I made it because the match didn’t go exactly as planned, but we know what we need for next time when we go to Finland.

“Depending on who we play at the worlds, we’re hoping to win two or three matches. We want to have a good time, but I’d say we’re all more competitive than we’ve been before.”