Sports Shorts

GB curlers land silver and gold

Great Britain's curlers bagged the women's gold and men's silver at the the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Poland on 20 February.

After seeing off Denmark in the semi-finals, the women's team went on to beat Switzerland 8-4 to take gold.

Having beaten Norway, team GB's men met Switzerland in the final, but were edged out on the last stone, narrowly losing 6-5.

Both teams combined to achieve what was Britain's best ever result in the competition.

Women's skip Anna Sloan said: “I am so pleased. We knew this was our only chance to get this medal here and now. We wouldn't have been happy with anything else apart from the gold so we went all out and played fantastically as a team.”

Scots coach Debbie Knox, an Olympic gold medallist at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, added: “I am really proud of the girls. I enjoyed this more than winning my own Olympic gold medal.”

Defiant performance from Capitals gains point against Cardiff

A gutsy display from the Edinburgh Capitals saw them earn a point against the Cardiff Devils, losing 4-5 after sudden death overtime in ice hockey's Elite League on 19 February.

Despite being 3-0 down after just 26 minutes, the match looked to be all but over for the Capitals, but the Edinburgh men fought their way back into contention, taking the match into extra time.

Mike Prpich scored first for the Cardiff, before Tyson Teplitsky added a second and then a third just 19 seconds later to establish a convincing lead.

But goals from Kyle Horne, Mark Hurtubise, and skipper Martin Cingel brought the match back on level terms.

The score stood at 4-4 at the end of normal time, but the spoils went to Cardiff who took the lead for the last time when Mike Hartwick netted in sudden death, two minutes and five seconds into added time.

Laszlo certain the Driver can play for England

Hearts manager Czaba Laszlo has expressed his belief that Andrew Driver can become a full international with England, provided he spends at least one further season at Hearts.

A string of top-drawer performances from the 21-year-old has resulted in much speculation regarding his future, but Laszlo has stated that his chances of gaining his first call-up for England will be maximised if he remains at Tynecastle.

"If Driver would like to be a great player, if he listens to me and does not look for the fast money, he has the potential to play for the English national team one day," Laszlo said.

He added: “Maybe some people will smile at me for this but this is my opinion. I tell you why. I see this guy every day and he has the resources, but he must work and work to explore them.

“Driver has much more potential. He must learn a lot of things, he must know what his strengths are and he must work on these more.”