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Both Czech national teams are in St Gallen.

The Czech curling team (men and women) arrived in St Gallen, Switzerland on Thursday evening to defend their national colours at the 2017 European Curling Championships. Groups A and B will be played in the Lerchenfeld hall. The hall is about a 10-minute drive from the Santispark Hotel, where the women are staying. A team meeting was held in the morning, where the teams were informed about the essential circumstances, such as transport, opening ceremony, who umpires will decide the controversial moments, who is responsible for the time umpires, etc. We had lunch at Migros and after our short team meeting we headed off for pre-championship training. We have 12 minutes on each lane (5) and we examine stones, lanes, speeds, spin and try out some game situations. The ice is not yet what we will be playing on from tomorrow, but we can see something. We also had a photo session and in the evening we will have the "opening function" (unofficial opening of the championships), which will be partly outdoors, i.e. without warm clothes. In the evening one more meeting, and tomorrow we will go to the first duel against the Italians (Gaspari). The clever Bětka won the lottery ticket, so we have a second training session.