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Gold medal hope at rink's 10th international event

Colin Colthart
BBC Scotland news
BBC A young woman with dark hair in a Team GB ice hockey top with a medal around her neck stands in front of a hockey netBBC
Emma Lamberton is hoping to be part of the starting line-up in Dumfries next month

Dumfries Ice Bowl is preparing to host its 10th international ice hockey championship with the hope that it will be marked by a gold medal and promotion for Team GB.

The Women's World Group 1, Division B tournament is being staged at the publicly-run venue between 9 and 15 April.

Great Britain will face teams from Italy, Latvia, Slovenia, the Republic of Korea and Kazakhstan.

The incentive for the winner is promotion up the sport's ladder to Division A.

A bald headed man in a dark blue Great Britain ice hockey jacket
Andy French said he hoped it was time to for Great Britain to win promotion

Dumfries has been hosting international tournaments since 2012 which it has been estimated have generated more than £1m for the local economy.

Andy French, the general secretary of Ice Hockey UK, said the partnership with Dumfries Ice Bowl and Dumfries and Galloway Council (DGC) over the past decade had been hugely successful.

He said the latest contest also represented an important moment for the GB women's ice hockey team.

"I think it might be the time we need to move up a level," he added.

Two big Solway Sharks ice hockey gloves around a puck on ice
Ice hockey events are estimated to have generated a significant boost for the local economy
A series of flags of competing nations across the Dumfries Ice Bowl wall
Teams from around the world will come to Dumfries for the latest international event

One of the game's rising stars is North Ayrshire's Emma Lamberton who is hoping to earn her place in the GB squad for the forthcoming championships.

She is looking to make the step up into the senior ranks after helping the British team win gold at the Women's Under 18 Championships in Riga in January.

The 17-year-old from Ardrossan, who is a forward with Whitley Bay Beacons, will travel with the national squad to Dumfries.

She said it would be a dream come true to make it into the starting line-up.

"I've got a one-in-four chance and have been playing well," she said.

Emma is also keen to encourage more girls into ice hockey which she describes as a "tough but very rewarding" sport.

DGC said it was "genuinely thrilled" to be hosting the event featuring competitors "who have reached the pinnacle of their sports careers".

It added that it hoped the tournament could also prove "beneficial economically".