Team Nibloe will bid to end on a high at Milano Cortina

The mixed team wheelchair curlers will bid to end on a high after they were eliminated at the round robin stage on what represented many of their Paralympic debuts.

Team Nibloe lost 9-4 to China which confirms they cannot progress to the semifinals of the competition, but there was plenty still to be proud of.

The team, who had fallen on the wrong side of a number of tight defeats, kept proceedings close against China until the fifth end, but stumbled at the close.

It will, however, provide valuable experience for the team that featured Stewart Pimblett, Karen Aspey, Austin McKenzie and Graeme Stewart making their Games debut.

“I’m emotional, but I feel proud,” said Pimblett. “It is a bit heartbreaking. I am proud of what the team and I have done here because we have gone hit-for-hit with the best teams in the world, and we just haven’t got over the line.

“We are a raw team, we are new. I love the sport, I love what we have been doing, and we have got great team spirit.

“Able-bodied people who are watching have to realise what we are doing. Not just my team, but the whole of wheelchair curling, we are trying to be so precise.

“Able-bodied [players] have the luxury of sweeping, if we had Hammy McMillan and Bobby Lammie sweeping that last stone, it is a different game.”

Pimblett had been moved to curl in Fourth for the clash against China, reflecting his strong performances throughout the week.

And while his tricky final shot connected with the desired yellow stone, he was fractionally off as China won in the seventh end.

“I got told just before the game that I was playing fourth rocks, which is a bit of a dream. I think I can hold up to that pressure,” he said.

“There were a few, that last stone, I was three-hundredths of a second away from making the shot, which if you get a stopwatch and try and stop on three-hundredths of a second, it is hard to do.”

ParalympicsGB had kept the game close in the first half. Despite conceding a three-point opening end, they had pulled level after the third as they followed a 2-0 win with a one-point steal.

After exchanging one-point wins in the fourth and fifth ends, the game begun to get away from the Brits.

China delivered a 2-0 win before taking a 3-0 steal in the seventh to secure the match.

“We took the game a bit more to China and were a bit more aggressive and things, and it was paying off at times,” reflected team skip Hugh Nibloe.

“We made some good shots, but we just couldn’t keep it going. And I struggled with that seventh end, couldn’t make my draw, and China made a couple of good ones.

“I left Stewart with a bit to do and a bit too much, unfortunately, but happy with the fight we put up, just fallen the wrong side of the result again.”

With two games left to play, Team Nibloe will now bid to end on a high as they face Latvia later in the day before a final match against Norway on Thursday evening.

“The last two games, we are going to look to win them and try and end on a bit of a high,” added Nibloe.

“It would be great if we could string a whole team performance together because we are not a million miles away, so it would be good to try and finish with two wins, and that would be a fairer reflection of how we have played.”